An Orphan's Life
by PilotGirl01
Summary: The daughter of a gundam pilot, who's been an orphan all her life, goes to find her father.
1. Default Chapter

_**1 Default Chapter**_

_**An Orphan's Life**_

**UPDATE:**** July 16, 2011 – **So, I have finally been able to make this fic what it should have been and have begun the long arduous processof uploading the new versions of all of these chapters. :D I appreciate those of you who have waited and stuck it this long, or even forgot about this fic, and came back. My love is to you all. I'm just glad somebody appreciates my work. I hope you all continue to read this and "A Daughter's Will", as that will also be updated. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or any of its licensed characters. I am but a lowly nerd who enjoyed basing this fanfiction upon them.

"Elysia Angelina Yuy. That's my name." The young girl stared at the nun in front of her, trying to hold in her anger. She had been standing in front of the nun for nearly an hour, trying to get the ticket that was promised to all eighteen-year-olds who were to be kicked out of the orphanage due to their age.

She had heard about the ticket most of her life. The ticket to freedom and a new life. The ticket to where all your dreams came true and you would never have to eat cold oatmeal again, or sleep in a small bed in a room filled with whiny children. This was the ticket that brought you a family and love, the things that all the kids in the orphanage had never experienced long enough to remember what it was like, but all knew that it was something good to have.

Elysia's birthday was today, the fifth of December, and now it was her turn to leave and gain that treasured ticket.

Except the nun in front of her was starting to get on her nerves by refusing to acknowledge her existence.

She watched as the old woman typed something into the computer on the desk, trying to remain calm as she said," I've told you this over ten thousand times."

The nun frowned and looked up at the girl in front of her, shrugging. "Well, your name is not in here… Elysia." She turned in her chair to face Elysia better and folded her hands. "Were you a runaway and just forgot you snuck in here?"

Elysia stared at the nun in shock. "I've been here since I was three years old! That stup- other lady told me I was in the database and that there was nothing to worry about." She clenched her fists, trying to contain herself. She was worried when she had walked out of the office where the head nun had handed her the papers that showed she was discharged from the orphanage. She'd had a feeling that something was going to prevent her from leaving, despite the head nun's reassurances that everything would be okay.

The old woman shrugged, not too sympathetic toward Elysia's problem. "Well, I don't know what to tell you. Your name isn't here."

Elysia narrowed her eyes at the nun, angry that this woman would refuse her the one thing that she had looked forward to all her life in the orphanage. "Well, why don't you look harder?"

The nun sighed. "I've already looked in all of our files. You simply don't exist." She leaned forward on the desk and looked Elysia in the eye. "Could you, perhaps, have gone by another name?"

Elysia slammed her hand on the desk, trying to hold back tears. "I only have one name! It's been the same damn name I've had since I first got here to this damn orphanage!"

The nun frowned. "Young lady, need I remind you where we are at? Lower your voice and refrain from such language!"

"Don't tell me what to do, lady!" Elysia cried, glaring at the nun even more. "I have had to listen to this crap all my life, and I'm not going to hear any more of it when I'm supposed to be leaving! Now, pretend I'm in the computer, and give me my damn ticket to wherever the hell you want, so that I can go on my merry way and find a better life for myself." She stopped her rant and took a deep, calming breath.

The nun narrowed her eyes at her. "Leave. Now!"

Elysia crossed her arms and stared at the nun defiantly. "Make me."

"And don't you ever come near this place again!" The nun waved a fist at Elysia threateningly.

Elysia rolled her eyes as she walked through the snow carrying her bag. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like you're really going to hurt me... Stupid hag." She trudged further down the empty road and sighed when it began to snow. "Figures. That's all I need right now." She put her bag down and sat on it, thinking.

The nun had called two men to forcefully remove her from the orphanage. She would've put up a fight, but when she saw that they had a lot of muscles, she willingly walked out.

But now she had no idea where to go. The ticket she had always dreamed of having was ripped away from her, due to lack of identity.

She pulled her raggedy jacket tighter around herself as the wind began to pick up, wondering how she was going to keep warm in this weather.

Now what was she supposed to do?

She looked up at the sky, surprised that she could see the stars when it was snowing. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, remembering the day she had been placed in the orphanage.

Her mother was taken away from her, that much she knew, but no one ever told her why. Or how.

And since she had no other known relatives, she was taken to the Maxwell Orphanage.

The stories of the place were all different, depending on whom you talked to.

Some of the kids there said it was a refuge from all the horrors of the real world. The others said that _**it**_ was the horror of a good world. That came from all the older kids.

They also told her that the orphanage was destroyed a long time ago, on a colony to be exact, but some guy rebuilt it on earth, since it was closer to where he lived and that there was a greater amount of parentless children there, than on the colonies.

He was said to be an orphan himself, growing up to be a great gundam pilot and having everything he ever wanted. But this was scoffed at by most of the orphanage, believed to be an urban legend made to cheer them up.

She remembered that she had no friends there, being the only girl and three-year-old at the time. There were other girls who came over the years, but each had wanted nothing to do with her. So, she was left to herself all the time, wishing to be back home with her mother, where they would stay up late reading stories like they always did, never dreaming of living in such a cruel and unhappy place.

Alone.

Elysia watched the stars and felt a tear roll down her cheek. "Mommy… Where are you?"


	2. Family

_**2 Family**_

_**An Orphan's Life**_

Disclaimer: Read the first chapter. Says it all. But just in case, Gundam Wing isn't and will never be mine. Except for in my dreams. ^_^

Elysia had long left the orphanage behind her and was now on her way to the only place that made sense for her to go.

The police station.

They had all the information in the universe, everything about anybody, anything about anybody.

Even unusual events where a young girl was taken to an orphanage, never knowing what happened to her mother.

As she got there, she suddenly realized she had no idea what to say. Or do. Or even who the heck she was supposed to go to in the first place.

She paused in her steps and bit her lip thoughtfully. *_I could just say I'm a missing person. Tell them that I'm looking for my mom… No, that won't work. They'll just think I'm a runaway…_*

She frowned and thought a while longer. Then, she shrugged and continued toward the station. *_Oh, well. Doesn't hurt to try._*

She walked to the station, planning what to say in her mind. She walked inside and looked around for any hints as to where she should go.

The station was pretty desolate, a receptionist at the front desk, typing away at a computer, a few police officers walking here or there. Everything else seemed dead.

She frowned and put her bag down by some chairs lined against a nearby wall, shaking the snow off of her jacket. She casually walked up to the receptionist and leaned against the counter. She waited for the receptionist to speak.

The receptionist continued typing, not seeming to notice Elysia standing there.

Elysia narrowed her eyes, mad that someone else didn't acknowledge her that night, and cleared her throat loudly.

The receptionist didn't look up, but said briskly," What do you want? We're busy."

Elysia blinked and looked around the station. "Sure doesn't look like it."

"Look kid, I don't have time for you to screw around in here. What do you want?"

Elysia sighed, trying to ignore the receptionist's rudeness, and smiled as sweetly as she could. "I would like to know… um… What happened to my mother and who I can possibly go to." She coughed to cover her embarrassment over sounding stupid.

The receptionist paused in her typing and raised an eyebrow at Elysia. "Excuse me?"

Elysia smiled a bit more and shrugged a little. "Well, um, I just got kicked out of the Maxwell Orphange over yonder a couple miles back and-"

"Orphanage!" The receptionist snorted. "Go on, kid. We don't need your kind here."

Elysia frowned in slight confusion. "But- I-… Why?"

The receptionist rolled her eyes and went back to typing. "Orphans need to live on the streets where they belong. They're out of everybody's way and away from those who are trying to make a difference." She waved a hand in dismissal at Elysia.

Elysia's eyes widened. She'd long ago heard from the boys at the orphanage who'd managed to sneak out that the world outside looked down upon runaways and any orphans. So much hatred, in fact, to the extent of which most of the boys came back for refuge, others being brought back by "concerned citizens". She'd never thought in her wildest dreams that those sworn to protect the city from crime and injustices would feel just as strongly.

She slammed a hand on the counter, startling the officer. "Hey! Some of us didn't choose to be orphans, you know! All of us were abandoned as children, or left behind by horrid relatives! Don't you have any remorse? We try to make a difference like you, but are denied the chances, because of who we are!"

The receptionist stopped typing again and turned to face Elysia. "What do you want, kid?"

"I want to know what happened to my mother fifteen years ago, when I was taken to that dreadful place!"

The receptionist sighed and looked at Elysia uninterested. "What was her name?"

"Relena Peacecraft."

The receptionist seemed taken aback for a second and then she shook her head. "No, really, what was your mother's name?"

"I just told you." Elysia couldn't believe how dense the woman was.

The receptionist stared at Elysia for a while, then turned to her computer and started typing.

Elysia frowned at the hesitation and tried to figure out what was wrong about her mother's name.

"Do you know what you're getting yourself into, asking this?" the receptionist asked as she typed.

"Obviously I don't. What's wrong with that?"

The receptionist stopped typing and stood up. "For one thing, you don't seem to know why you were taken from your mother." She walked over towards the back to where some printers had buzzed to life. She watched them, waiting for the papers.

Elysia frowned a little. "I thought we established that when I first got here."

The receptionist shrugged. "Well, I don't think you want to know, if you were close to her."

Elysia started to get a bad feeling. "Why is that?"

The receptionist picked up the papers and walked back to the front, handing them to Elysia. "Because your mother's dead."

Elysia frowned some more, somewhat in shock, and looked at the papers. "What?"

"She was murdered fifteen years ago. By an unknown assailant. I guess they didn't tell you, 'cuz you were just a baby. Orphanage should've, though, when you were old enough to understand." She sat down and looked at the computer. "Apparently your uncle didn't want you, so the officers sent you to the orphanage."

Elysia blinked and leaned closer to the receptionist. "Wait, I have an uncle?"

She nodded and clicked on something. "Yep. And an aunt too. Grandparents are all dead, no siblings… Father unknown." She typed around some more. "But he's put down as an ex-gundam pilot. Interesting… Still alive, as far as we know. But no name." She looked at Elysia, who was struggling to let this all sink in.

She turned and leaned back against the counter dejectedly. "I have an uncle… Who didn't want me." She tried to hold back the tears that came, but wasn't really succeeding as much as she had wanted.

The receptionist smiled sympathetically and patted her on the back. "He was probably busy all the time. Maybe he didn't have enough money to raise you at the time."

"But he would've come for me when he _did_ have the money." She wiped at her eyes, mentally yelling at herself for being weak. "Why didn't he get me?"

The receptionist sighed and glanced around for a box of tissues. "He… um… Well, you do have a father, so why don't you go focus on that." She found the box and handed it to Elysia.

Elysia sniffed and took it, muttering a thank you. She wiped her eyes some more, but ended up crying harder. She made a face and looked at the papers the receptionist gave her. "It says all these names that I don't even know. My mother never told me I had an uncle." She looked at the paper again. "Or who my father was." She laughed hysterically at that. "I have a father who's alive! What a world!" She wiped at her eyes some more.

The receptionist watched her, starting to pity the young girl in front of her. "Is there anything you want me to do?"

Elysia laughed harder. "Oh, sure! Give me addresses, names! Hell, give me a cemetery!" She started crying harder. She desperately wiped at her face, finding it useless. "My life is one bad thing after another! I should just end it!"

The receptionist sighed and typed at the computer. She walked to the back to get more papers from the printer. When she had them all, she handed them over to Elysia. "Here. These are the names of everybody mentioned on that list. And their last known address. It should help you in some way."

Elysia looked at the papers and laughed. "Oh, look! Colonies!" She shook her head in disbelief. "I've never even been to space! How crazy is that? And now that I have a reason to go, I don't even have the money! Talk about your worst nightmare come true." She wiped at her eyes as more tears poured out.

The receptionist frowned a little. *_Poor kid. Probably was promised a lot of things in her life she never got._* She smiled weakly and said, "Well, I could help you get to where you need to go…" A thought hit her. *_Wait a sec… Relena Peacecraft's daughter… She had to have left something for her._* She turned to her computer and began to type rapidly.

Elysia watched her, wondering what she could be doing for an orphan that she seemed to hate.

The receptionist cried out in triumph as she found what she was looking for. "Aha! Here it is!" She turned the screen towards Elysia. "Look! You have an inheritance! Over ten million dollars!"

Elysia stopped crying and stared at the screen in shock. "What? How?"

The receptionist smiled. "Your mother was a very important person."

Elysia closed her eyes. "Important?"

The receptionist nodded and turned the screen back. "She was quite well known." She looked at the screen and frowned. "Wait… How old are you?"

Elysia opened her eyes. "Eighteen. Why?"

The receptionist's face fell. "You can't get this money until you're twenty… Sorry. I thought that-"

Elysia raised a hand and smiled a bit. "No, no. That's okay. I understand."

The receptionist looked at the screen sadly. She noticed something else on it. "Wait, there's one other thing. You do get at least get some money, until you're twenty." She hit a few keys. "About one thousand. Enough to get you where you want to go and still be able to eat." She looked at Elysia. "Well? What do you think?"

Elysia smiled some more. "I think this is great!

**A/N:**For future reference, I am being lazy and a bit of a sentimental person, and will NOT be deleting my old notes from the chapters. I will make them smaller to read, so that they aren't so glaringly annoying. Don't worry, you aren't missing anything important. They all say the same thing. R&R! Thanks for your cooperation.

A/N: Hiyas! I love you first three people who reviewed me! So, I decided to put the second part out tonight. But to the rest of… Grr… R&R, darn it, or I'll eat the cookies myself! Oh, and yeah, Heero's the father, but Elysia doesn't know yet, so keep it to yourself. Well, bye for now. ~_^


	3. Space

_**3 Space**_

_**An Orphan's Life**_

Disclaimer: ( Makes a bored Heero face ) I don't own Gundam Wing or any of it's people, etc., because if I did, I'd be REALLY rich by making these fics into actual episodes, instead of bribing people with cookies to R&R. *Sigh*

Elysia looked out the small shuttle window to see the stars. All of her life she had seen these stars from afar, dreaming of the day she would go to space and have a family to love and love her back. And now she was actually seeing them up close, getting one step closer to that dream.

Of course, when she was a child, she had always envisioned her mother with her, smiling happily as they sat together watching everything around them.

She looked away from the window, so as not to cause her to have more memories that would end up with her crying hysterically.

The orphanage had never mentioned anything about Relena or who she was.

Or why she was so important as the receptionist had hinted.

Something didn't seem right about the way everything was turning out. Why had everybody fail to tell her these important things in her life?

As much as this bothered her, she didn't let it ruin her good mood.

The receptionist had helped her a lot with getting a shuttle ticket right away and going to the first person on the list of people.

Quatre Winner.

Elysia liked the way his name sounded, like he was a really nice and caring person.

The receptionist had said that if Elysia wanted to find her uncle, Quatre would be the one to know where he'd be located.

So, here she was, on a shuttle to the LX4 colony, wondering what she should even say, or what Quatre Winner was really like.

After the shuttle had landed and everybody was well on their way to fulfilling their destinies, Elysia was staring in wonderment at all that was before her.

A colony was completely different from the earth she was used to. She would hear the other orphans tell tales of what they had seen on vacations, visits to relatives, or just from living on one, and would get somewhat envious of never seeing such wonderful places.

She watched the people go by, carrying on with their lives, never knowing what kind of effect they were having on a poor orphaned girl from earth.

Elysia looked at the papers in her hand to see the address of Quatre's house. She frowned in concentration and looked up at all the signs she saw.

"I wonder if he lives in an apartment or something," she mused.

She walked down the streets, looking for anything that would look like an "Iria St."

After walking a few blocks and not finding anything, she looked around for the nearest person who could help.

She noticed a young, blonde girl walking nearby with a group of friends, laughing as she tossed her hair over a shoulder.

Elysia liked the way her smile was and walked over, watching the well dressed girl with admiration.

As she approached, she cleared her throat and smiled as sweetly she could, saying," Hi, I'm new to... the whole area and I was just wondering if you could tell me where a…" She glanced at her paper. "497 Iria Street was at." She smiled a bit more, hoping to impress the girl.

The girl stared at her blankly for a second as her friends quieted down a bit. "Excuse me?"

Elysia's smiled faltered at the girl's lack of cordiality. "Um, I'm here looking for someone who could help me… With…stuff." She cringed at how lame she ended.

The girl studied her for a minute, seeming to judge her character with her eyes. After a long awkward silence, she nodded and straightened up, a bit too proudly. "Sure, I'll help you. We were heading in that direction, anyways."

Elysia smiled and nodded in gratitude, and would have voiced it, if it weren't for the fact that the girl had turned and was already walking away, her friends not too far behind.

She sighed and followed, not liking the way this was going.

"My name is Caterina. I live on Iria Street."

Elysia nodded as Caterina rattled on about herself. She had started to be a tad bit more talkative, once her friends had parted to go to their homes. But she was starting to get on Elysia's nerves with her obvious narcissism.

"The street was named after my aunt. When my father built this colony, he named all the streets after his sisters."

Elysia frowned a little at that. "So, there's more than one Iria Street?"

Caterina looked at Elysia as if she were stupid and shook her head. "No. He just named _one _street after every sister. He has twenty-nine of them, you know."

Elysia stopped in her tracks at that comment. "Oh… That's interesting…" She made a face at the idea of having to have that many sisters living in one house.

*_And _I _thought the orphanage was bad. _*

She looked at Caterina as she stopped walking too. "Here we are."

Elysia looked up and tried to hold back her surprise. Obviously she had failed to notice that all the houses on the street weren't houses. They were mansions.

"Holy crap. This place is huge!"

Caterina smirked and opened a door that was in the large wrought iron gate surrounding the property. "I know. But it's not as nice as our house on earth." She walked in, not bothering to hide her arrogance at living in such a nice place. "Coming?"

Elysia stared a second longer, then nodded. "Um, yeah." She paused when she realized what Caterina had meant. "Wait, you live here?"

Caterina rolled her eyes at what Elysia could only assume meant she'd asked another stupid question. "Duh! Quatre Winner is my father." She turned away and started walking up the long pathway leading up to the front door.

She followed Caterina, wondering just who the hell this Quatre Winner really was.

A/N: I know. Short. But I'm having a bit of a writer's block. And I know you all think Heero is really really mean, but he's not! He has a good reason! And just so you know, Elsyia's name is pronounced EL-EE-ZHA. You know, like the Elysian fields from ancient greece. Her whole name basically mean "Angel from Heaven." ( remember ANGELina?) Just thought I'd clear that up. Oh, and please excuse my lack of intrelligence in the colony name area. I have no idea what they're called and why, so I figured since most of them have "L" and "X" in it, I'd just stick 'em together as a made up place Quatre made. So, anyways, R&R as usual, and bye for now. ~_^


	4. Meeting

_**4 Meeting**_

_**An Orphan's Life**_

Disclaimer: Okay, I think we got this straightened out in the first chapter and when I first joined FFN. I DO NOT own gundam wing, or anything related to it, cuz then I'd be those rich people in japan rolling around in lots of money.

"My father is one of the most important men in the galaxy," Caterina was saying, while walking around the way-bigger-than-it-should-be kitchen. She opened the fridge and pulled out a pitcher of lemonade. "He gets paid lots and lots of money. Which I spend, of course." She smiled at the joke, looking at Elysia to see if she saw it amusing as well.

Elysia was staring around at her surroundings, obviously zoning out from Caterina's meaningless jabber.

Caterina narrowed her eyes a bit at this form of insolence. She set the pitcher down a bit too hard in front of Elysia and asked," So, why do you want to talk to my dad?"

Elysia jumped a little and smiled sheepishly at Caterina. "Um, well… He might have an answer to a very important question I have to ask him."

Caterina raised her eyebrows as she sat down next to Elysia. "If you're sick or something and need money, you can just go somewhere else. We don't give it out for free, you know."

Elysia frowned. "Huh? No! I'm not here for money. God, I can't believe I made you think that. Do I look that bad to you?" She fiddled with her clothing self-consciously.

Caterina stuck her hand up to stop Elysia. "Please! Don't do that in front of me. Are you trying to lay a guilt trip on me?"

Elysia stopped and looked at her slowly. "No. I was just…" She sighed and looked down.

Caterina watched her for a few minutes, then shook her head. "You have some serious problems… Hey, what _is_ your name, by the way?"

Elysia sat up quickly and adjusted her clothing, while reaching out to shake Caterina's hand. "My name is Elysia Yuy." She frowned when Caterina stared at her hand blankly. She pulled it back, feeling a bit stupid.

Caterina didn't seem to notice Elysia's embarrassment and began to pour herself a glass of lemonade. "Yuy, huh? Name sounds familiar to me, but I could be wrong." She took a sip from the cup. "So, what are you going to ask my dad? You know, once he gets back from work."

Elysia hesitated at telling Caterina anything, being she was pretty much full of herself and probably wouldn't listen, but then shrugged it off, thinking, *_If she doesn't care, I still have her dad. He's not like her… Hopefully._*

She smiled and said," I'm looking for my uncle and I was told that your dad would know where he could be located."

Caterina frowned, somewhat intrigued. "Uncle? What, you grew up never knowing about him?"

Elysia nodded a little. "Yeah, you could say that."

Caterina thought this over in her mind. "So, now that you know about him, you want to meet him and build a relationship with him, right?"

"Something like that."

Caterina looked at her, starting to get annoyed by Elysia's not too descriptive answers. "What do you mean? Either you do or you don't. There's no in between."

Elysia sighed and stared at the countertop. "Well… I have nowhere to go and he's the only living relative I know about. I was hoping he would take me in."

Caterina stared at her in confusion. "_Only_ living relative? Where's your mom and dad?"

Elysia flinched a bit at the question, not really wanting to answer. It was a bit hard for her to come to grips that her mother was really gone and that she had a father out there somewhere, who obviously didn't want her.

Thankfully, Quatre chose that moment to walk in, carrying a briefcase and other businessmen accessories. He walked over to the table, setting his things down as he said," Caterina, I just received your credit card bill today. I thought you and your mother discussed this already."

Caterina turned in her chair to face him and smiled innocently. "We did. And we decided to set a limit."

Quatre looked up at her and raised his eyebrows. "This doesn't prove there was a limit set." He waved a piece of paper at her.

She shrugged. "I never said it was actually set, yet. We didn't get that far. Mom had to go get her new car cleaned."

Quatre stared at her and was about to say something, but stopped when he saw Elysia. He straightened a little and looked at Caterina. "Oh. I didn't know you had a friend over."

Caterina frowned in confusion, then nodded as she remembered Elysia. "Oh! Right!" She glanced at Elysia, the looked at Quatre again. "She is _not_ my friend."

Quatre frowned as Elysia made a face at Caterina's blunt comment.

"So, who is she?," Quatre asked after a long pause.

Caterina looked at Elysia. "Tell him. You were the one who wanted to come and talk to him."

Elysia stood up slowly and walked over to Quatre, starting to feel a little shy. She reached out with her hand and said," I'm Elysia Yuy. I came from earth to ask you a very important question regarding my only known living relative."

Quatre stared at her quizzically as he shook her hand. "Yuy? You want to know about your dad?"

Elysia frowned as she pulled her hand away. "Um, actually, I was kind of hoping you knew about my uncle. I have never met my dad. I don't even know who he is."

Quatre sat down slowly and rubbed his forehead. "This is bit too much for me. I've had one strange day."

Elysia looked at him, unsure of what to say or do.

He looked up at her and raised an eyebrow. "So, do you know who your uncle is?"

She nodded and handed him the papers she had. "Yeah. It says here that his name is Milliardo Peacecraft and that he lives in space somewhere… I just don't know where exactly, since... Well, just because."

Quatre looked at her in surprise. "Zechs? "

Elysia frowned and looked around in confusion. "What?"

Quatre shook his head. "Sorry. Your uncle goes by a different name. Sort of." He thought that over. "Wait… He's your uncle?"

Elysia made a face. "Yes, I believe that's what I said."

"So, that means your mother was Relena."

Elysia froze at hearing her mother's name. She nodded meekly, hoping she wasn't showing her feelings.

Quatre studied her for a while and then smiled a bit. "I can't believe I didn't see it at first! You look just like her… except for a few minor differences, of course." He looked at Elysia some more, which started to make her feel a bit uncomfortable. "So, you have no idea who your father was- er, is?"

She nodded some more. "My mom never told me about him. She didn't even tell me about my uncle."

Quatre read the papers over. "Relena has been… gone for over fifteen years now. If you don't know about your uncle and dad, then where have you been all these years?"

Elysia bit her lip and tried to not look down. "I've been in an orphanage."

Quatre's eyes widened. "An orphanage? Didn't they have another place for you to stay? I mean, you are Relena Peacecraft's daughter, after all."

Elysia shrugged. "I wouldn't know. I was only three at the time. I didn't even know my mom was dead. They just took me away in the middle of the night and said I had to leave."

Quatre stared at her in complete shock. "They never told you?"

Elysia, who was starting to get sick of that question, nodded and looked over at Caterina. "I guess they forgot to over the years. It's okay, though. I kind of had a feeling something was up. Most of the kids at the orphanage were there, because their parents were dead. I sort of figured if they were there for that reason, I would be too."

Quatre shook his head. "That's pretty bad of them." He closed his eyes thoughtfully. "Wow. Relena's daughter. I never even knew she had a child!"

Elysia smiled at the way Quatre was reacting. He seemed way nicer than his snotty daughter.

Who, by the way, was starting to get extremely jealous of Elysia. She didn't like how her father was giving Elysia a lot of attention and hadn't even talked to her, except for the credit card bill. She narrowed her eyes at Elysia and crossed her arms, already deciding to make her life as miserable as possible as long as she stayed at the mansion.

Nobody takes Caterina Winner's place in _her_ house and gets away with it. This means war.

A/N: Hi, it's me again! What d'ya think? it's a wee bit longer than the other ones, but not as long as I wanted. But that's okay. It just puts you all in more suspense… If that's what you're going through right now… Hmm… Anyways, R&R and make me happy. There's a cookie in it for you. And thanks to - for making me realize that I was blocking anonymous reviews. Didn't know that was happening. Guess I was having a major blonde moment, or something. But anyways, it shouldn't be blocking you anymore, if it was before, so now I should have more reviews. Hopefully. Well, bye for now! ~_^


	5. Unwelcomed

An Orphan's Life

Disclaimer: Okay, people. We all should know this by now that nobody on FFN owns Gundam Wing. I mean, why would those rich people be here when they could be out having fun like Quatre and his Maganacs?… Damn that rich white Arabian. I should kidnap him…

~ ~ ~ ~

Caterina narrowed her eyes at Elysia as her father talked to her, not noticing that his daughter was starting to get beyond pissed off. They had been sitting at the table, eating dinner for nearly two hours now, and he still hadn't stopped talking about that pathetic girl's life. She played with the food on her plate, not wanting to eat, since she was trying to concentrate on a plan on how to get rid of Elysia.

Elysia was starting to feel uncomfortable, sensing Caterina's hostility. She smiled at Quatre out of politeness, but was praying for a reason to leave, so Caterina would stop looking at her like a wolf looks at a rabbit. 

It wasn't that she didn't mind Quatre talking to her. But when someone was death glaring you from across the table, it kind of made it hard to eat and talk without feeling like you were scum.

After a while, Quatre looked at Caterina. "If you aren't going to eat, then go to your room. I'll just tell your mother when she gets back next week that you're sick and need to go the doctor."

Caterina turned her glare on him.

Elysia shifted in her chair uncomfortably, obviously seeing the doctor thing as a threat to Caterina.

Caterina stood up slowly and leaned on the table. "Will you be leaving tomorrow for your business trip?"

Quatre raised an eyebrow. "Why? Got a date or something?"

She sniffed at that comment. "I wish." She tossed her hair over her shoulder and glanced at Elysia. "I was just wondering, because I don't want to be left alone here." She narrowed her eyes some more at Elysia. "With _her_." 

Elysia gulped a little and bit her lip, trying to ignore Caterina's words.

Quatre stared at his daughter, trying to stay calm. "Why is that? You should be glad someone your age is here, instead of pushing her away. You need a good influence in your life."

Caterina glared at him. "One, she is not my age. Two, I have no bad influences in my life."

Quatre crossed his arms. "You sure about that?"

Caterina ignored the question and slammed her hands on the table. "If you hadn't let the slaves go on their Christmas vacations a week earlier, then _I_ wouldn't be stuck here alone!"

"Caterina, they get paid to work here, so they are not slaves. And you had your chance to go with your mother. Don't start getting mad at me, because of your bad decisions."

"I am not staying in this house with a girl I hardly know! It would be safer to be alone with psychos than her!"

"Well, you don't have that choice."

Caterina was about to say something, but Elysia stood up and cleared her throat. "Actually, I was thinking of leaving tonight, anyways. Since you weren't able to help me, I figured I should leave and spare you any more trouble."

Quatre started to protest, but Caterina smirked triumphantly at him. "See? She doesn't want to stay. Now, make her go!"

Quatre stared at his daughter sternly. "I will not turn away a friend's child, Caterina. Stop this petty jealousy of yours and go to your room."

Caterina stared at him for a second then stormed out of the room angrily. "Just you wait! I'll get you for this!"

Quatre looked at Elysia apologetically, sure that the threat was directed at him. "I think she got that from her mother. She didn't mean any of it."

Elysia nodded slowly, not really believing what he said. 

He sighed and looked at his watch. "I have to get to bed in order to catch my flight tomorrow. Why don't you go find a room upstairs somewhere and stay the night. I'm sure Caterina isn't going to do anything to you."

Elysia frowned. "Are you sure? She seemed pretty mad."

Quatre shrugged. "She always is." He watched her as she tried to decide on what to do. "You can come with me in the morning when I go and get the next flight to… Where are you planning to go?"

She frowned and pulled out the papers she had. "Trowa Barton is next." She frowned a little. "It doesn't say where he lives. That's just great."

Quatre took the paper from her and nodded slowly as he read it. "Trowa doesn't really have a set address. He moves around a lot."

Elysia took that a bit fearfully. *_Oh, my god. He must be a complete psycho. Proabaly wanders from place to place, not really having anywhere to go… He must've been an orphan too._*

She smiled at Quatre to cover her feelings.

Quatre handed the paper back to her. "Last I checked, he was in the Sanc Kingdom with the circus."

Elysia blinked a little. "Circus?" *_My god, he _is_ a psycho!_*

Quatre nodded. "Yeah, his sister runs it now. They go to a new continent every six months. He should still be there… Where did you come from?"

Elysia frowned, not understanding the question. "Huh?"

"Did you get here from a colony?"  
Elysia scratched her head absentmindedly. "All I know is that I grew on on earth. They never told us the city where we lived." 

Quatre looked at her in surprise, but said nothing about it. "Well, I guess you better head toward the Sanc Kingdom tomorrow. That's where you'll find him. Do you have any money?"

She nodded, not wanting to to take anything from him.

He raised a brow at her. "How much?"

She tried to avoid the question by asking," Shouldn't you be getting to bed now? You can do all this tomorrow, instead of wasting your time."

Quatre shook his head in disbelief and turned to leave. "You really are something."

Elysia frowned a bit, not catching the meaning of that. She shrugged and went to find the stairs. She hoped Caterina was in her room and wouldn't cause her any more problems.

Unfortunately, Caterina was waiting for her at the top of the stairs, arms crossed and a not-so-nice expression on her face. 

"What do you you're doing?," she asked, not bpthering to hide the contempt in her voice.

Elysia was afraid to answer, not knowing what she would so if she aid anything.

Caterina took her silence as a challenge and narrowed her eyes at Elysia. "You better not be thinking that you're welcomed here. I don't care what my father thinks of you. You need to place what ever little nonsense he told you out of your mind right now, and know that in this house, _I_ run things. And right now, I say that you go. Now." 

Elysia lingered on the steps, not liking this confrontation. She didn't like to have other people mad at her, a little insecurity placed upon her from the orphange. She couldn't stand being disliked or being the cause of someone's anger. She stood on the stairs, trying to decide what to do.

Caterina glared at her when she didn't leave and stepped forward. "Why are you stil standing there? Go! Shoo!"

Elysia gave a sigh of defeat and turned around, walking down the stairs, not wanting to cause any more trouble.

Caterina smiled behind her, glad that she could force this girl to do whatever she wanted.

Elysia took one last look over her shoulder, then walked out the door, wondering how she was going to get to the airport in the middle of the night.

~ ~ ~

A/N: What'd you all think now? *Evil little grin* Poor Elysia won't be happy for a while. 'Til she meets Trowa's son… Ha! More suspense! And sorry if this dragged along. My mind isn't functioning well today. And please excuse my stupidity with the damn chapter mix up. I have a little blonde in me that I call Mimi who came out and went and replaced chapter one with four, instead of uploading it. And just to let you all know, I'm a brunette, so, when I get blonde moments, I get them good. ^_^ Ayways, R&R as usual and tell me what you think. I still have cookies. Bye! ~_^ 


	6. Clowns

An Orphan's Life

Disclaimer: I'm not Japanese, so that should explain it all. But for those moronic lawyers out there, I DO NOT OWN GUNDAM WING!

~ ~ ~ ~

Elysia arrived at the Sanc Kingdom, a bit disoriented by the change in gravity and atmostphere. She couldn't believe her luck at the airport, absolutely positive that she would have to wait for two days to get a ticket to the Sanc Kingdom. But she figured the Fates were smiling upon her that night, probably to make up for Caterina's… Well, straight out bitchiness.

She breathed in deeply, liking the way the earth smelled. Who knew that one day in space would make one appreciate the simple aspects of earth better?

She sighed as she stood outside, where it was snowing (damn colonies have all the luck), and tried to figure out where exactly she should go. 

"I really should have thought this over a bit more," she said to herself quietly. She chewed one her lip, wondering how the hell she was supposed to find this Trowa Barton. 

And just as she thought that, she happened to look down and see an ad partially buried in the snow, bright letters and colorful pictures inviting people to come to the greatest circus in town.

She looked around, thinking God was playing a joke on her, then looked down at the ad. She picked it up, really sure that it was all in her head that it was what she thought it was.

She read it over and saw that it was dated just a month earlier.

*_Quatre _did_ say that Trowa moved from city to city every six months. He should still be here… But _where_?_*

That's when she happened to see the fine print at the bottom.

__

Staying at the Sanc Kingdom City Plaza 'til February 13th.

She blinked and looked up suspiciously. "Is this some kind of joke?," she asked a bit too loud. She continued looking, oblivious to the weird looks that were being thrown her way.

After getting hit in the eye with a rather unusually large snowflake, she walked away to fond the Sanc Kingdom Plaza place, taking the pain in her eye as a sign that God was having fun at her expense.

Elysia was surprised that the circus was closer than she thought. Just as she was turning a corner, there it was. She was starting to think she was dreaming, the way everything was going in her favor all of a sudden. 

She wandered through what she thought was the entrance, but soon found herself lost between all the large striped tents, the dark night not helping her see well. She would've been okay about having to find her way around, if it weren't for one thing.

She was deeply afraid of clowns.

It wasn't that they weren't nice to her, but as far back as she could remember, she always thought it was scary how they were always happy. She had never seen one sad or even angry, and that was a bit freaky to her.

That and one time at the orphanage, a group of kids shoved her into a closet where a jack-in-the-box, that never actually went back into the box, stared at her with a really big grin on it's little face. She had to stare at the horrid looking thing for nearly three hours, before the nuns found her.

So, clowns weren't the greatest thing in the world to her.

And, unfortunately for her, all her good luck went away when she happened to stumble into a tent, where clown masks and costumes glittered at her. She held back a scream as she saw something towards the back move and ran blindly out of the tent, not caring where she went, as long as she was away from those evil things.

The problem with that was that she should have cared a little bit about where she was heading, because she ended up face-to-face with a lion.

She stumbled away from it, holding in her terror, wondering how she was going to get out of this one.

It didn't help when the lion began to roar and walk closer to her slowly.

She bit back another scream and backed away as fast as she could, wothout provoking the lion in the process. She froze when she felt something breathing on her neck. She slowly turned around praying it wasn't another lion.

A tiger looked back, its sharp teeth gleaming in the moonlight.

This time, she screamed. And really loud.

That's when the lion chose to start roaring again, which made the tiger do it too, and soon they were all making a lot of noise.

Elysia was beyond teffified, so when she saw someone race out toward the lion, she was greatly relieved.

A light flickered on nearby, shedding light where she was standing at, revealing that the lion and tiger were in cages that would be impossible to escape out of and eat whoever happened to sneak into the circus.

She froze, feeling absolutely stupid.

She then noticed that the person who ran out was glaring at her, arms crossed.

She shifted around uncomfortably, not knowing what to say.

The person broke the silence for her, by saying in a slightly deep voice. "What the _hell_ are you doing?!"

She gulped, not liking the way the person sounded. He sounded pretty pissed off.

He stepped closer to her and she tried not to allow how cute he looked to get in the way of her judgement.

The way he acted helped her out. He glared at her some more, his green eyes flashinf. "Answer me!"

She whimpered a little, deeply afraid of what he might do. She mentally laughed at herself, wondering why she thought Caterina was mean. This guy was worse. Or so it seemed.

He moved even closer, and this is when Elysia got a better view of him. Her eyes wandered over his nicely muscled body, and she nearly smiled at the way his long brown bangs fell into his eyes, making him look a bit childish.

Nearly smiled, that is, until he grabbed her by the arm and yanked her away from the tiger cage. "Are you okay?"

She was about to answer, when she realized that he was talking to the tiger. She made a face as he lightly stroked the tiger, the tiger purring like a big cat. Which it was, in a sense.

He looked over at her and narrowed his eyes. "You got some nerve, you stupid girl! Stealing my precious Tawny and Ricky."

She blinked, then fronwed. "What?"

"You heard me." He turned back to the tiger, kneeling as he pet it some more. "It's okay, Tawny. That stupid girl won't hurt you."

Elysia soon got over her fear and put her hands on her hips. "Excuse me?_ Stupid girl_?"

He glared at her and nodded. "I don't see any other dummies around."

Her eyes widened at this, her anger rising dangerously high. "_I'm_ a stupid girl?! I almost got eaten by that damn tiger of yours, and you're more worried about that dumb animal than me?!"

He stood up slowly and crossed over to her. "Don't bad mouth my animals. And from what I just saw, you are more stupid than they are! They at least know they're in cages!"

Elysia bluched a bit at that. She turned her face away from him, so that he wouldn't see, and said," Well, I didn't come here to steal your precious Tawny and Ricky. I came here to find a Trowa Barton. I have to talk to him."

The guy froze, then looked at her in confusion. "You came to talk to _who_?"

"Trowa Barton," she repeated, adding a second later," And you said I was stupid. You can't even listen."

He seemed to think this iver, then grabbed her by the shoulders. "What business do you want with Trowa Barton?!," he demanded, shaking her.

She tried to ignore the pain he was causing her and said," I just told you. I have to talk to him about… something."

"Well, you came to the wrong place!" He let go of her and turned around.

She watched him in confusion and rubbed her shoulders. "What do you mean? I was told he was here!"

"Well, you're too late! He's gone!" He started to walk away.

She stared at him, eyes widening. "Hey! I'm not done with you!"

"I am, so go! And stay away from my animals!"

She stood a second longer, then ran after him. "You're lying!," she said as she caught up with him.

He didn't glance her way as he muttered, "And what if I am? You aren't getting near himm as long as I'm here."

"Look, all I want to do is ask him if he knows where my uncle is at." She slowed down a bit. "I have lived without a mother or father all my life. I don't have any friends or brothers or sisters. I just found out two days ago that I have an uncle who didn't even want me, when my mother was killed. You may not care, but talking to your dad means a lot to me right now, and I am not allowing some big, woman hating, jerk stop me!"

She paused as he stopped walking and slowly looked to her.

He looked in her eyes, making her feel weird. "Your mother was killled, you say?"

She tried to not roll her eyes as she said," Yes. How many times do I have to repeat myself?"

He ignored that last part and asked quietly," How?"

She frowned, wondering why on God's snow-covered earth would he ask that kind of a question. She played with her hair and looked down. "I don't know. Murder or something. That's all the cop told me."

He studied her for a while, the sighed. "Follow me."

She blinked. "Huh?"

He grabbed her by the arm and silently lead her to a small green tent nearby. He glanced over at her for a second as he paused at the opening leadin inside, then pulled her harder, shoving her in front of him.

She looked around the tent, surprised by how big it was. She noticed a few beds on the side, a little girl and boy sleeping in two of them. She glanced around, admiring how nice it looked, then stopped when she noticed that someone else was in the room, sitting in a chair by the beds.

He looked up at her with the same green eyes the guy had, and said somewhat cooly," Who's this, Theo? Another girl you ran into to have a little fun with?"

The guy let go of her arm and snorted. "Yeah, right! Look at her!"

Elysia watched the older version of Theo look her over. "WHat seems tp be the problem?"

Elysia was about to answer, but Theo stepped in front of her and said," SHe said she wanted to talk to you about something important, dad."

Elysia's eyes widened. She pointed at Trowa in disbelief and looked at Theo in shock. "That's- he's- your _dad_?!" 

He made a face and nodded slowly.

She closed her eyes as she tried to let this go through her mind, but soon felt herself faint. The last thing she heard before she went unconcious was." Stupid girl! Don't you dare faint!"

~ ~ ~

A/N: He he he… A bit long, but I don't think any of you care. And it's pretty obvious I modeled Theo after the great english dubbed Inuyasha. I had to. It works so well. Andways, R&R please, and tell me how you liked this one. Bye for now! ~_^


	7. Stupid

An Orphan's Life

Disclaimer: Let's see. In order to be one of the owners of Gundam Wing, you have to be: 

! Rich

2. Japanese

3. Old

Hmm… I'm none of the above, so I think we all know what that means. I DON'T OWN GUNDAM WING!

~ ~ ~ ~

"You better wake up, you damn weakling!"

Elysia slowly opened her eyes and frowned as she tried to figure out who was yelling at her. As she saw a pair of green eyes glaring at her, she remembered where she was at, and sat up quickly. She returned the glare to Theo, who didn't seem to notice.

"Good. You're up." He made a face. "You need to stop being a coward."

She frowned. "What?"

"You heard me."

She got to her feet and looked at him. "Obviously I didn't. And what the hell gives you the right to talk to me like that? I should kick your ass!"

He crossed his arms and smirked. "Ha! _You_ kick _my_ ass?" He started laughing at the thought.

She narrowed her eyes at him, as he showed no sign of stopping soon. "What the hell is your problem? Don't you know what it's like to be nice?"

He ignored her and continued laughing.

She grew angrier by this, so she rolled back her right sleeve and made a fist. He didn't see what she was doing, until her fist hit him right in the jaw. The force was so hard, that he fell back from it.

He grabbed his jaw from the pain and glared at her. "What the hell was that for?"

Trowa, who thought it wise to stay out of their fight from the beginning, decided to intervene now. "Theo, go get some ice for that. You'll need it." He looked at Elysia. "Come with me outside."

Theo straightened up and glared at his father. "I don't need ice. I'm not weak."

Trowa rolled his eyes and walked out. "Just go."

Elysia, satisfied that she hurt Theo, walked out calmly after Trowa.

Trowa studied her for a while, kind of like Quatre did when he first met her, and said nothing for a long time.

Theo apparently didn't like this, so he left to get the ice that he didn't need.

Elysia looked at Trowa, curious about the way he was. She didn't expect him to be as tall as he was or silent. The psycho she had envisioned was completely gone from her mind now.

*_He has a son. And those two kids in there must be his too. I wonder why he hasn't talked much. Maybe he's one of those strong silent types._ *

After a while he crossed his arms and began to talk. "You're Relena's daughter." 

She frowned, not knowing how he got that.

He seemed to know what she was thinking, because he said," You look just like her. Except… Your eyes… They have to be Heero's."

She looked down, not knowing what to make of this. *_He's not psycho. He's _psychic! *

"To be honest, I never knew Relena and Heero had a child, but there's no doubt that you're their kid. How old are you?"

She looked up a little. "Eighteen."

Trowa thought this over. "Where'd you live all this time? It's obvious Heero doesn't know about you."

She tried not to think about why that was and answered his question. "In an orphanage."

Trowa's eyes -or eye- widened. "Why not live with Zechs?"

Elysia was confused for a minutes, before she remembered that Quatre had called her uncle Zechs too. "Apparently, I wasn't wanted."

Trowa frowned at that comment. "That doesn't sound right. Are you sure we're talking about the same person?"

She handed him the papers she had in her pocket and nodded. "Unless I have a reading problem."

Trowa read the papers over, starting to get suspicious. "These are all wrong. Except for Quatre's address, these are wrong."

Elysia frowned and looked at him in confusion. "What? But the cop lady-"

"She was lying." Trowa held up the papers and ripped them in half, then proceeded in shredding them to bits.

Now, Elysia had no idea what to do about this, so she stood there dumbstruck.

After he was done, he turned and began to walk off. "Come with me."

Elysia followed, not understanding what was going on.

Theo chose that moment to return. He took the ice off his jaw once he saw Elysia, and pretended he was just holding it. "Where are you going, stupid?"

She glared at him and continued following Trowa. 

Theo made a face at being ignored, and followed them, getting a bit mad.

Trowa stopped in front of a tent and looked at Theo. "Stay out here with her, while I talk to Catherine."

Theo and Elysia made a face as Trowa walked into the tent.

"Stay out here with stupid? Why?" *_She sure can pack a punch. What would she need me for?_ * He glanced over at her, unaware that his hand holding the ice had gone up to his jaw on it's own. 

She was staring straight ahead, not even paying attention him.

He took advantage of that and began to check her out. *_She's hot! If she weren't so stupid, I'd try to get into her pants all the time._ *

Elysia continued looking at the tent, until she started to get a strange feeling that she was being watched. She frowned and glanced over at Theo.

He quickly looked away and put the ice on his jaw to cover that he was blushing at being caught.

"What the hell were you doing?" she asked, getting a bit freaked out.

He shrugged and looked ahead. "Nothing. Just wondering how someone so ugly could be allowed on earth."

Her eyes widened, and she would've said something to him, if Trowa hadn't walked out of the tent at that moment.

"You can stay the night in Catherine's tent tonight. Her daughters are staying with some friends, so there's room for you."

She stared at him, slightly perplexed by what his actions. "What?"

Theo shoved her toward the tent, glad for being able to get away with touching her, and said as rudely as he could," You heard him! Or are you too stupid to understand?"

She planted her feet on the ground and turned to look at him. "Do you want a black eye to go with your jaw?!"

He held back a smile and crossed his arms. "Aw, that's so cute! You think you can hurt me!"

She took a step toward him, fist raised. "I _know_ I can hurt you!"

Trowa interrupted for the second time that night. "Theo, your younger brother and sister are more mature than you are right now. Leave her alone and go get more ice. You're starting to bruise really bad."

Elysia smirked and walked to the tent, as Theo touched his jaw to see what Trowa meant, flinching at the pain.

Trowa shook his head and walked back into the tent, wondering how much more trouble this girl was going to cause his son.

~ ~ ~

A/N: … Nothing to say here, except maybe AREN'T THEY SO CUTE! *Cough* Um, yeah… Anyways, that's all I have to say, except for R&R as usual and… Strange. My big mouth has nothing to say. *Shrugs* Oh, well. Bye for now! ~_^


	8. Naked

An Orphan's Life

Disclaimer: Not mine, wish it were, yada, yada, yada.

~ ~ ~ ~

Elysia woke up, feeling a bit confused on where she was. She then remembered where she was and looked around the tent. 

The morning sun illuminated everything in a sort of ethereal glow. The bed Catherine slept in had been long ago made up and now looked as if it hadn't been slept in years.

She got of the bed, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, wondering why she was feeling so cold. Then the memory of Catherine handing her a somewhat see through silky nightgown the night before struck her. Catherine had apologized for not having anything warmer for her to wear, but assured her that nobody would see her in it.

Just as she looked up, her hand still rubbing her eye, she realized that Theo was in the tent and was looking at her.

Or, her chest, which could be seen through the nightgown.

There was a shocked silence, then she began to scream as he ran out laughing.

"Damn it! What are you doing in here?!"

Theo laughed harder as he said," My dad sent me to see if you were up yet. I didn't really want to come." There was a pause before he added," Now, I'm glad I did."

She yanked the blanket off of the bed she slept on and wrapped it as tightly as she could around herself. "You pervert!"

After another pause, he made a face. "Are you dressed yet? I'm really hungry and the bearded lady sure does eat a lot…"

Elysia looked around frantically for her bag, then froze when she realized that she left it at Quatre's house. She closed her eyes, trying to decide on what to do now. "I'm not hungry! Go away!"

"I can't, unless you're with me."

"Well, I can't go… Just leave!"

Theo frowned a little and turned from where he was standing. "Why not?"

Elysia looked around anxiously, struggling to give an answer that wouldn't give him any more ideas. "I… don't have anything to wear."

Theo blinked, then walked back into the tent. "You have no clothes?"

She bit her lip and nodded.

He made a face and crossed his arms. "What's wrong with what you have?"

"I have nothing to begin with. Your aunt took what I had on yesterday and didn't tell me what she did with them."

He frowned a little. "So, just go with that." He motioned to the blanket around her.

She made a face. "Don't you realize you're talking to a girl? We don't go prancing around half naked under blankets!"

"You really should. Makes you all more appealing."

Her eyes widened at this. She turned around and threw herself on the bed. "Go away!"

"What's wrong with the blanket? I sleep in the nude."

She blushed at the thought of him naked and was grateful for the blanket covering her face. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"If you haven't noticed, we're in a circus community. No one's going to care if you go out like that, just as long as you don't make a big show about it."

She stayed under the blanket, then curled herself into a ball. "Go away!"

"Get up."

"No."

"Don't make me do it myself."

"I'd like to see you try."

"I would, but I don't want to get yelled at if I touch something I'm not supposed to."

She thought that over and sighed. She stood up and turned to him. She frowned when he began to circle her, poking her here or there. "Hey! What's the big idea?!" 

He ignored and went to touch her sides, but she slapped his hand away angrily.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

He looked at her, slightly annoyed. "I'm just measuring you." He studied her for a minute, then said. "Take off the blanket."

She backed away from him in shock. "What?! No!"

"I can't get your exact size with that big blanket covering you. You can cover whatever you don't want me to see with your arms." When she didn't move, he added with a slight grin," It's either that, or you can go out with just that nightgown on. I don't really care."

She made a face at the choices, then sighed. She took off the blanket, and quickly crossed her arms over her chest, not wanting to give him another free show. 

He walked around her again, making her feel more uncomfortable, but scaring herself when she realized she didn't mind. 

She was starting to calm down a little, until he said," Put your arms up."

Her eyes widened. "_What?! _"

He sighed and started to get a bit more annoyed. "Look, I'm right behind you. I'm not going to do anything. I just want to see if you're too big on top."

"Too big for what?"

He ignored the question and moved closer to her. "Don't make me remind you of what you could wear if you don't do what I ask."

She took a deep breath, and lifted her arms up. She felt his hands touch her upper back and move a little too close to her front, but he stepped back quickly and threw the blanket at her.

"Here. I'll be right back." He ran out as she covered herself with the blanket. 

*_His dad' may not be crazy, but _he _sure is!_ *

A few minutes later, he returned with clothes in his hands. "Put this on. It should fit well. I'll be outside." He then walked back out of the tent and waited like he said. 

She looked at the clothes in her hands and smiled. * _Crazy, but sweet and cute too. _*

After she had finished getting dressed, they walked over to where Elysia assumed where the circus people ate.

They walked in an awkward silence, not knowing what to say to each other, both unaware that they were having the same thoughts about each other.

As they reached the eating area, Theo made a face and looked at her. "See what you're damn girliness did? Now there's nothing left to eat!" He sat down at one of the tales and began to pout.

She put her hands on her hips and glared at him. "As I recall, I told you to go on without me. You have no one to blame but yourself!"

He glared at her and looked away.

She smirked, knowing that she won.

"You two need anger management."

They looked behind them to see who talked.

Theo rolled his eyes and looked back at the table. "Go away, Gabe."

Elysia smiled at the younger version of Theo. *_He's so adorable! _*

He looked at her and extended his right hand to her. "Hi! I'm Gabriel. Theo's younger, but much more mature, little brother."

She smiled some more as she shook his hand. "I'm Elysia." *_He's so much nicer than Theo. I wish I had a little brother. _*

He looked at her, then his brother. "My brother really likes you."

She managed not to blush at that. "Oh? What makes you say that?"

"The way he's acting mean to you. He's only nice to girls he doesn't like. He has it bad for you. The meaner he is to you, the more he likes you." He shrugged and turned away. "Bye! It was nice meeting you!" He walked away, leaving Elysia to stare at him in bewilderment.

Later that night, Elysia was eating a spaghetti and meatball dinner with Trowa, Theo, Gabriel, and the girl she saw the night before, who was the youngest and named Rene.

She had just finished telling Trowa everything that had happened to her from the moment she was placed in the orphanage, up until she arrived to the Sanc Kingdom, when Gabriel and Rene decided to leave, obviously bored.

Trowa closed his eyes and thought for a while, leaving Elysia and Theo to look around uncomfortably.

Elysia stared at Trowa, unaware that Theo was checking her out again. When she looked at him for no particular reason, he looked away, arms crossed as if he were mad.

Trowa broke the silence by saying," I don't know where Zechs is at, but I think you should stop looking for him anyways. If he didn't want you, then it wouldn't be wise to go searching for him. There are a lot of unusual things surrounding your story, and I don't think it's safe for you to be looking for all of these people. But if anybody knows what's going on here, it's going to be Heero. He'll know what to do once you talk to him."

Elysia took this in and nodded slowly. "So, how do I find him?"

Trowa smiled sheepishly at the question. "To be honest, I don't know. I haven't seen him for nearly three years. But Duo Maxwell would know."

Elysia smiled at the sound of Duo's name. *_That's the same name as the orphanage! How weird!_ *

"So, where does this Duo live?"

Trowa laughed a little. "I don't know where he lives either. But Wufei will know. A Preventer's thing."

Elysia stared at him blankly. "Please tell me you know where he lives."

Trowa nodded and leaned back in his chair. "I saw him a few months back. He should still be living in space as far as I know."

Elysia smiled, but shuddered at the thought at being in space again. After her experience with Caterina, she didn't think she liked to go out there again. " So, where does he live, exactly?"

Trowa waved a hand at her. "Don't worry. Theo knows. He'll show you around."

Theo stared at him in shock. "What?! I have to go with Stupid to space?! Why?!"

Trowa raised an eyebrow at his son. "I'm not going to allow a friend's child go to space without protection. "

Theo stared at him for a second, then started laughing, getting a different meaning from that sentence.

Trowa rolled his eyes, as Elysia suddenly understood what Theo was laughing at and began to blush really bad. "I need to exchange you for a girl. 

~ ~ ~

A/N: What'd ya think? Sorry if this dragged on, but I wanted to show how Theo and Elysia's relationship starts. I don't have much to say about this one, 'cept maybe R&R… Well, bye for now. ~_^

__


	9. Nightmare

An Orphan's Life

Disclaimer: We all know I don't own it, so why do I bother putting these things here? Oh, right. Lawsuit.

~ ~ ~ ~

Elysia looked over at Theo, who was staring straight ahead, arms crossed. It was obvious he didn't want to come with her. He pretty much made it clear the whole time they were preparing to leave, when they got to the airport, and when they got on the shuttle. He hadn't spoken since they sat down, and this was bothering her for some reason.

It was a late flight, eight 'o clock at the latest, so the other passengers were either asleep, or were getting there.

She opened her mouth to say something, but he held up his hand and said," I don't like shuttles, planes, or anything that doesn't allow my feet to be planted firmly on the ground. Please do me a favor and don't say a word, until we've reached the damn colony, otherwise, I will lose my concentration and go insane. I don't think you'll want to see that, so kindly turn around and look out that window and don't try to talk to me again."

Elysia frowned and was going to do what he asked, but then realized that he had just admitted he was afraid. That was something she hadn't really expected Theo to do. She figured that if he were ever afraid of something, he would act big and tough to pretend that he wasn't, being that he seemed to care about how he looked.

And yet, here he was, tapping his foot nervously on the floor, trying to hold back the terror that was showing in his green eyes.

Elysia smirked and leaned close to him. "So, you're afraid, huh?"

Theo continued staring straight ahead, not wanting to look at her. "I didn't say that."

Elysia unbuckled her seat belt and turned to face him better. "Not your exact words, I agree, but you still said it. You're afraid to go on planes and stuff."

"No, I'm not. It's just that planes have been known to crash a lot, and shuttles have the tendency to explode in the atmosphere from time to time."

Elysia held back a smile and slowly reached for his seatbelt. "If you aren't afraid, then why don't you unbuckle your seatbelt then? Nothing will happen if you do it."

He slapped her hand away, but still avoided looking at her. "No. They said to keep it on."

"That was when we lifted off. I don't think we need it on if we're going at a constant speed toward a colony. Turbulence isn't known to happen in space."

"How do you know all this? Didn't you just go on your first shuttle ride two days ago? Did one little trip give you that much in the experience area?"

Elysia smiled and nodded, even though she was only guessing. "Why do you keep staring at the front? Is there something there that I should see?" She leaned over his lap and tried to look at the front the same way he was. 

Theo grew very uncomfortable by her doing this, and shoved her back towards her seat. "Don't do that!"

She looked at him in fake confusion. "Why? I was only trying to look-"

"Well, don't go leaning over me like that! If we hit something and burn to death, I don't want you to be the last thing I see before I die."

Elysia made a face at that comment and put her hand son her hips. "Well, you're no prize yourself, Mr. I'm-afraid-of-planes!"

Theo finally turned to look at her and narrowed his eyes. "Turn around, face the front, hell, look out the window if you have to, and leave me alone!" He then looked back to the front and Elysia could see that his left eye was twitching a little bit.

She held back a smile and turned forward, crossing her arms. "Fine. I will."

"Good. Now, shutup."

"I will. In fact, I'll go to sleep, just to spare you the trouble of knowing I'm conscious."

"Not a bad idea."

"Hmph!" She closed her eyes and got comfortable in her seat, as he sat up straight in his.

A few minutes later, she was fast asleep, leaving him to face his fears alone.

Elysia dream wasn't exactly a dream, but a string of memories she had starting from the night when she last saw her mother. The memories were a bit rusty, since she had tried to suppress them all, so everything she dreamed was jumbled and incomplete.

The first thing that she remembered was when she was three-years-old. Her birthday had just passed a few weeks ago, and she was wearing a red velvet dress, standing at the top of the long circular staircase, secretly watching her mother as she prepared to go to a business party or something of that sort.

Relena had worn a long, deep blue dress that brought out her eyes. Elysia remembered watching her from the top of the stairs through the railing, marveling at how beautiful her mother looked. The white coat Relena had on made Elysia wish she was old enough to go with her mother to parties and get dressed up.

She ran down the stairs as her mother was beginning to leave and wrapped her little arms around Relena's legs. "I want to go!"

Relena smiled at Elysia and picked her up. "Baby, you know I would let you, but…" She trailed off as two men approached from somewhere in the back of the house. "What do you want?"

"We are leaving now, Ms. Darlian. Put the child down. You know-"

"And? I'm not allowed to say goodnight to my own daughter?"

Elysia couldn't see the men's faces, but she remembered their voices. So rough and cruel. She hated them.

"Hurry along. You have engagements to attend to and-"

"I'll decide when I leave, not you. Wait in the car for me."

One of the men said something under his breath, but Elysia couldn't hear what it was. They left, not too happy at being ordered around.

Elysia looked up at her mother and hugged her. "Don't leave! I want you to stay!"

Relena had smiled, but gently put Elysia on the ground. "Baby, you have Pargan to watch you. He always watches you. You have nothing to worry about." 

"But Pargan's boring!"

Relena laughed, and kissed Elysia on the forehead. "Be that as it may, you have no other choice. But I'd rather be with Pargan than some other old man. You be good. I'll see you later. Okay?"

Elysia made a face. "No."

"Well, that's too bad." Relena picked her up and gave her a hug. "I love you. Goodnight."

As Elysia was out down again, she looked up at her mother and watched her as she walked out the door, not knowing that this would be the last time she would ever see her.

As someone closed the front door, she felt herself being picked up and carried to one of the rooms upstairs.

The next thing she knew, she was playing chess with Pargan. It was in her room, or maybe it was his room, but she knew that she was winning. She had just moved her queen in front of his king and proclaimed "Checkmate!" when the door burst open, and the same two men came storming in. 

Pargan had stood up, confusion all over his face. "What seems to be the problem?"

"Something has happened. We need the child."

Pargan looked at her quickly. "What for?"

The men pulled Pargan out of earshot, but Elysia could still make out a few words. Something like "accident" and "shot" and something about her having to go to the hospital. Whatever it was that they told Pargan, he nodded slowly and walked back to her. "You need to go." He began to clear the chessboard and put it away.

All of a sudden, Elysia felt herself being picked up too roughly and flung over a shoulder. "What's going on? What are you doing? Where's my mom?" She tried to hurt whoever was holding her, but the person held on tighter. "I want my mom! Let me go!"

Then, Elysia was standing in the front hall to the Maxwell Orphanage. The men who had her were talking to a nun, whispering loudly and fiercely. 

She looked around fearfully, the huge room making her feel all the more insignificant. She felt herself being pulled and jerked around and then she was in a room.

It was empty, except for an old bed and raggedy blanket on it. The wood floors creaked loudly and looked as if they would fall at any moment.

"You're the only girl right now, so you have to stay in here, until we can get you a better room to stay in." She remembered the voice, but not the person who said it. 

Soon, the memories came faster and more blurred together.

The time she was shoved in the closet with that jack-in-the-box, the kids yelling at her that she would never belong. 

The time when she was there for maybe a week or so, and the nun had seen her holding the bear her mother gave her. The nun took it away, saying that she should grow up and put it somewhere where Elysia couldn't get it. 

Then seeing the same bear being given to some strange man who had come to the orphanage, hearing the nun tell the man that it was a gift from the children.

When it was her fifth birthday and the kids wouldn't let her get any cake. She had ran out in tears, outside to where it was covered in snow, where she ran onto the thin ice and fell into the freezing water.

Someone had grabbed her, a nice man with violet eyes. He had carried her back, covered her with his coat, and asked her questions. He handed her over to the nun, saying that they should put up a fence in the back, so that this wouldn't happen again.

She was yelled at for being irresponsible and making the nuns look like a bunch of fools. She was whipped, beaten so bad that she couldn't move or stop crying for days.

Then she got a jacket from the man who saved her.

And a new one every year for her birthday, including nice presents for Christmas. But the presents stopped coming.

She was pushed around by all the new girls who were much more older than her, forced to stay in the room while they went out to play or eat. She was crying a lot, wondering why her mother abandoned her, and giving herself the false hope that Relena would come back and get her, save her from all the cruel children and nuns who beat her for not being a good little girl.

She kept hearing those men and the nuns, the children that taunted her. Everything was bad; she couldn't ignore the voices. They were getting louder, so loud that she couldn't think. Her mind was a rush of pain and tears and false hopes. 

Then she could hear someone calling out to her. Someone was saying her name. Over and over, getting louder than the voices. She was being pulled out of the misery of her childhood, taken away from the memories that she thought she had forgotten.

She opened her eyes, wide-awake now, staring straight into a pair of emerald green eyes. She gasped and jumped in her seat, then calmed down when she realized that Theo was the one staring at her.

He was giving her a look that was mixed with confusion, and what looked like concern. "Are you okay? What the hell were you dreaming about?"

Elysia took a while to compose herself, slowly realizing that she was breathing hard and was sweating. "I-I had a nightmare. That's all. A simple nightmare." 

Theo smirked. "And you made fun of me for being afraid to go on the shuttle? Must have been a hell of a nightmare, the way you were moaning and crying."

She blushed a little at having done that, and looked down to hide it. Her eyes widened when she realized that Theo was holding her hands, and a bit too tight at that.

He looked down in confusion, then noticed what she was looking at. He yanked his hands away quickly and turned to face the front again. "Well, you better stay awake for the rest of the trip, 'cuz I don't want to have to wake you up every time you get a nightmare."

She nodded and slowly turned back in her seat to face the front. They sat in awkward silence the rest of the way, Elysia wondering why she was remembering all of the horrid things from her childhood, Theo wondering why he had gotten so worried about Elysia having a stupid nightmare.

~ ~ ~

A/N: Hmm… Nothing to say here, 'cept maybe that I shouldn't have done a big thing about her memories. But there's a reason for it, so there! Anyways, I have nothing else to say, but the usual R&R. So, I guess that means bye for now! ~_^


	10. Suspicion

An Orphan's Life

Disclaimer: Since kidnapping Quatre and ransoming the owners of Gundam Wing to hand over their rights to me didn't seem like a wise idea, Gundam Wing still, sadly, does not belong to me. That is, until I can come up with a better plan…

~ ~ ~ ~

As Elysia and Theo got off of the shuttle and headed out of the terminal, Elysia couldn't shake off a bad feeling she was getting. She was turning out of the terminal and out towards the baggage claim area, wondering what the heck was wrong, when she walked straight into Caterina's smirking face. She gasped and stopped in her tracks, Theo crashing into her.

"What are you doing?! Why'd you stop walking?!" He pushed her a little and walked around her, muttering about aspirin. He made a face when she was still standing in shock at Caterina. He stopped and glared at her arms crossed, waiting for her impatiently.

Elysia blinked and looked at Caterina. "What are you doing here? How-"

"My father forced me to come here and give you your bag. You left it at my house." She held up Elysia's bag, letting it dangle between her fingers. She rolled her eyes. "Actually, he told me to go to Trowa's hous-er, _tent_, since he said you were going there. After I got there, Trowa told me you were heading to Wufei's. So, I had to take another shuttle to get to this god forsaken colony." She looked around and shuddered. "It needs some repair. Badly."

Elysia took her bag from Caterina and frowned, still confused. "If you were that far behind us, then how'd you get here before us?"

"When your father's the richest man in the colonies, you tend to get the faster, more relaxing shuttle flights. But I guess you wouldn't know what that feels like, now would you?" She looked over at Theo. "Why, Theodore Barton! Look at how tall you are!"

Theo glanced over at Caterina, still glaring. "Who the hell are you?"

Elysia, who was confused by Caterina's comment, started laughing. "Your name is _Theodore_?!" She laughed harder, until Caterina and Theo gave her a look. She stopped quickly and cleared her throat. "Um… I'll just go get our bags and- oh, look! Isn't that your bag, Theo? I'll just go and get it…" She ran and made her escape, covering her face in embarrassment.

Theo continued glaring at Caterina.

Caterina rolled her eyes and shook her head. "I can't believe you don't remember me. Did that fall off the roof really mess up your head?"

Theo gasped, and narrowed his eyes at her. "You!"

"Oh, don't start. You still haven't let that little accident go, have you?"

"Accident?! I don't think accidents involve someone _purposely_ pushing somebody else off of the roof!"  
"Well, I told you I was going to do it! You'd think someone who had been in the circus as long as you were would've landed gracefully." She frowned when she heard Elysia shouting obscenities. She looked past Theo and shook her head. "That girl has some serious problems."

Theo frowned and looked behind him to see what she was talking about. 

Apparently the bag was heavier than Elysia had anticipated, so she was struggling to lift it up, while trying to stop the bag from moving on the rotating baggage thingy. Which was the cause of her not so nice mouth at the moment.

Theo slapped his forehead and sighed. He looked at Caterina. "Excuse me." He walked over to Elysia yelling," What the hell are you doing?! Leave my bag alone!"

Elysia stopped moving, her hand still on the bag. "Hey, well, I told you I was getting it!" She froze when she heard something rip. She looked down to see Theo's bag go off, the handle in still in her hand.

Theo said something pretty bad and loudly, and dove for his bag. Elysia slowly brought the ripped handle closer to her face and nodded. "Plastic. Not _the_ strongest material around." She looked up when she heard Theo begin to use the words she was using earlier. She tried not to laugh at what she saw.

When Theo had grabbed his bag, it fell open, the handle not being the only thing that had broken off. So, his clothes, mostly his boxers, were strewn all over the floor.

Elysia held in her laughter and went back to Caterina, feeling it was safer to be with her than with Theo at the moment.

Caterina shook her head and looked at her watch. "You two are the worst people I have ever known."

After Theo had picked up all of his clothes, the three teenagers were walking out of the airport, following Caterina to the special limo she had arranged to pick them up in.

Of course, when Theo had heard that part, he immediately wanted to go home, until Elysia reminded him that he would have to go back on a shuttle.

He gulped and protested no more, finding it a bit more tolerable to stay in a limo with Caterina Winner than going on a shuttle again.

Sitting in the limo in the back, squished between Elysia and their bags, Theo glared at Caterina who was sitting comfortably in front of them. He never liked that blonde, for more than one reason. Selfish was one of them.

She was looking in a compact mirror, not seeming to notice, or care, how uncomfortable Elysia and Theo were feeling. "So, why are you two seeing Wufei?"

Theo didn't bother to hide his contempt. "Why do you care?"

Caterina glanced over at him with her eyes and lowered the mirror a little. "I don't. Just wanted to know why I'll have you guys with me when I go speak with Jade."

Elysia frowned and tried to shift, her right foot beginning to fall asleep. "Jade? Who's that?"

Caterina gave a small frown, then smiled. She closed the mirror and set it down in her lap. "Jade Chang. She's Wufei's daughter. Sweet girl."

"Isn't she older than you, Caterina?" Theo asked, raising an eyebrow.

Caterina glared at him. "What the hell is your problem? I've done nothing but be kind to you and all you've done is act like a huge jackass! You sure have changed, Theo."

"As did you."

Elysia shifted some more, hoping that she didn't get caught in he crossfire of the argument. She tried to look out the window, but the dark tint prevented her from seeing anything. She stole a glance at Caterina and Theo, who grew silent. 

They seemed to be having a glaring contest, and it appeared that neither of them were winning or losing.

She gulped, glad that she wasn't receiving hose glares and decided to stare at her feet until they stopped.

After a while, Caterina started laughing. "Oh, what are we doing? Acting like a bunch of five-year-olds! I mean, _really_, we should be catching up on each other's lives and sharing embarrassing stories of our youth!" She stuck her hand out to Theo. "Truce?" She smiled a bit too sweetly at him.

Elysia didn't like the way Caterina suddenly changed moods. She watched her suspiciously as Theo stared at Caterina's hand as if it were a poisonous snake.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "What's the catch?"

"Why, nothing at all! I can't believe that you would think I'd be planning something against you!" She was still giving that smile that looked too fake.

Theo studied her for a minute, then slapped her hand away. "Fine. But we don't need to shake hands. That's like a business deal, which are all shams to begin with."

Caterina sighed and picked her mirror up from her lap. "Fine…" She frowned when she saw Elysia out of the corner of her eye, staring at Theo with what looked like affection in her eyes. She pretended she was looking at the mirror still and watched as Elysia and Theo kept stealing glances at each other the whole ride. 

She gave a smirk as a plan began to form in her mind. *_I still have to pay her back for getting me in trouble with daddy. And for me being forced to go here… Oh, this will be too easy!_ *

She put the mirror down and clapped her hands together. "Oh! This will be so much fun!"

Elysia looked at her warily as Theo rolled his eyes.

"What are you talking about, Caterina?" Elysia asked, confused.

"Oh, dear, dear Elysia. I meant sharing our rooms together and everything! It'll be just like we're sisters!" *_ In a twisted world, that is._ *

Elysia frowned, not sure what to make of this. Was this the same Caterina who kicked her out of her house a few days ago? She smiled weakly at Caterina and nodded. "Yeah, I guess… Wait… What rooms?"

"The hotel _room_, silly! I got one for us. We'll all be sleeping together!"

Elysia looked down quickly as she started to blush, getting a different meaning of the sentence. 

Theo was hiding his feelings better and was still glaring out the window.

Caterina didn't notice, and opened the partition between them and the driver to see where they were. "Oh, good. We're almost there!" She looked at Theo and Elysia happily. "After we get settled in, let's go get something to eat. I believe it's lunch time already."

Elysia nodded, starting to get that bad feeling again. 

~ ~ ~

A/N: Hmm… What'd you think? Sorry this one kind of drags along a bit. Just had to shove Ms. Winner in somehow. It's get better, later on. *Gets evil grin* Anyways, R&R and be nice. Oh, and just to let you all know, I was just saying things that float around in my mind in my explanation chap and that you don't need to share my views in order to read this. So, as a precaution, IGNORE EVERY OPINION I HAVE!!!!! Thank you and see ya later! ~_^


	11. Hotel

An Orphan's Life

Disclaimer: No good plans yet, so Gundam Wing is still not mine.

~ ~ ~ ~

When they reached the hotel Caterina was talking about so happily, Elysia gulped. The hotel building was one of the biggest buildings she had ever seen in her life. She looked over at Theo, who was staring up to see where exactly the building ended in the sky.

Caterina ignored them and walked in, waving her hand at Elysia and Theo to follow. "Come along, now. We have to check in and do other various things."

Elysia glanced over at the unfortunate driver, who was unloading all of Caterina's luggage. She looked at her small bag in her hand, and wondered what the heck Caterina packed.

Theo gave her a little shove, since she was standing in his way. "Move, stupid."

She stepped forward, then stopped, so that he would walk into her again. "Jerk. Why don't you ask me kindly to move? Why do have to keep shoving me around?"

Theo raised an eyebrow. "Is Ms. Stupid finally taking a stand? Dear me, she is! How cute! She thinks she can order me around!"

Elysia narrowed her eyes at him. "Two words, Theo. Fist. Jaw. Do the math." She walked into the hotel building as Theo frowned.

Caterina was tapping her foot impatiently on the floor, not liking to have to wait for the two people she disliked the most in the universe. "Are you two done flirting, 'cuz I would really like to go to my room right now."

Elysia tried to hide her feelings and glared at Theo when he walked in. "Me like _him_?! That's a good one, Caterina!" She started laughing, hoping it would add emphasis.

Caterina just stared at her and crossed her arms. "Well, anyways, I'll go get the key to our room, while you two stay here."

Theo crossed his arms too. "I refuse to share a room with you two. I would like a room to myself, and on a different floor."

Caterina stopped in her tracks and smiled. "I'd like to see you try to get _that_ room."

Theo narrowed his eyes at her and strode up to the checkout desk. "Then watch."

Caterina shook her head and said," Poor boy thinks he can get what he wants."

Elysia looked over at her. "Why do you say that?"

"You'll see."

Elysia watched as Theo talked to the male receptionist, then walked back quickly to them in anger.

Caterina smirked "What happened?"

"He said they're out of rooms."

Caterina faked her surprise. "Really? Oh, that's too bad!" She looked behind her to see that the driver had just finished bringing her bags in. "Good. Then let's go." She walked to the desk and returned in a few seconds, the card key in her hands. She looked at them expectantly." Come on! We need to get to the forty-seventh floor. It takes a while, so you better hurry, before we miss the elevator."

Elysia froze and looked up at the ceiling. "Forty-seven?"

Caterina nodded. "Yes. Why?"

Elysia stared at Caterina, not wanting to mention her fear of heights. "N-n-nothing. I just don't like to stand too long."

Caterina nodded slowly and looked at Theo. "How 'bout you? Still afraid of heights?"

He glared at her and shook his head indignantly. "I wouldn't be, if _someone hadn't pushed me off the roof!"_

Caterina sighed and walked to the elevators. "Let it go, Barton! Be a man!"

Theo made a face and followed slowly, arms crossed.

Elysia frowned. What about your bags, Caterina?"

Caterina looked at her and frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Aren't you going to take them with you? They might get stolen if they're down…" Elysia trailed off when Caterina burst out laughing. "I take it that that was a dumb thing to say."

Caterina cleared her throat and wiped her eyes. "Sorry, Elysia. It's just that nobody steals here. That and it's the bellhop's job to get those to the room."

Elysia looked over at all the bags and felt extremely sorry for the poor guy who would have to haul those up to the forty-seventh floor on his own.

"Come one, Elysia. We're waiting for you."

Elysia took one last look at the bags, then ran to catch up to them.

The doors to the elevator were just opening as soon as she got to it, so she barely made it. She rushed inside, going to stand in the farthest left corner and gripped the handlebars as tightly as she could.

Caterina raised an eyebrow at her, but didn't comment. "Well, we're the only ones on this dumb thing, so the ride should be fast."

Theo stared stonily at the doors as they closed, Elysia mentally reciting all the prayers she knew.

When they got off the elevator, Elysia and Theo looked at Caterina expectantly as she stood in the hallway quietly.

"Well?"

She made a face. "Well, what?"

Theo tried to hold in his anger and clenched his teeth. "Where's the room?"

"How should I know? I'm not a map!"

Elysia looked down as Theo and Caterina started fighting again. "This is not a good day."

~ ~ ~

A/N:… Yeah, I know. It dragged big time in this one. Sorry 'bout that. Just had to keep this thing going. Don't worry. The next chapter will be better. I promise. Just keep reading. ~_^


	12. Lunch

An Orphan's Life

Disclaimer: Not mine, too lazy to specify. Read first chapters.

~ ~ ~ ~

"Elysia, what are you wearing?" 

Elysia frowned in confusion and looked over at Caterina. They were unpacking their things and putting them away in the dressers next to the beds. "What do you mean?"

Caterina motioned at the clothes Elysia had on. "I mean _that_."

Elysia frowned more. "You mean my clothes?"

Caterina made a face. "Duh! Are you seriously going to wear _that _out to lunch?"

Elysia stared at her more confused. "I thought that's what you're supposed to do when you go outside. Wear clothes."

Caterina sighed and walked over to Elysia's bed, picking up her bag of belongings. "That's not what I meant." She pulled out a shirt. "That orphanage had _no_ taste whatsoever."

Elysia watched her as she went through the bag. "What do you mean? It's just clothes."

Caterina looked at her in surprise, then shook her head. "Elysia, Elysia, Elysia. You just don't get it, do you?"

Elysia crossed her arms. "Obviously not." She looked over to the door that separated them from Theo, praying he would come out and say something. 

When they had found their room after the fight between Caterina and Theo, she had mentally slapped herself for thinking that Caterina would get a regular room. The "room" was actually a good-sized suite, and once Theo realized that, he immediately went to the other room and closed the door, declaring he was going to sleep and any disturbance would mean death.

But as much as she prayed, he didn't walk out.

Caterina was examining all the clothes. "Why are these ones different?" She held up the shirt and jeans that Theo had lend to Elysia the morning after they met.

Elysia frowned. "Why does it matter?"

Caterina shrugged. "Just wondering." She looked at her watch. "Go ask Theo if he's coming. I'm starving."

Elysia made a face. "Did you not hear him when we got here? _No disturbances!_"

Caterina nodded. "I know. Why do you think I'm sending you?"

Elysia's jaw fell open. "_What_?!"

"Oh, don't start that. He won't get mad. Well, not at you anyways."

Elysia stared at her in shock, then gave a sigh of defeat. She walked over to the door and took a deep breath, before opening it. She walked in, getting a bit fearful when she saw that the room was extremely dark. She left the door open, but it slowly closed, stopping just a few millimeters from the wall. 

She frowned when she noticed a hot tub to the side. *_Figures he would claim this room first! _* She shook her head, then froze when she remembered something that Theo had said.

__

"I sleep in the nude."

Ha had said that so casually then, and now, here he was sleeping, with Elysia nearby.

She slowly looked over to his bed, hoping that he was just kidding. She quickly covered her eyes when she saw that the blanket he had was halfway on the floor and that whatever body parts it wasn't covering were indeed not clothed. 

She let out a squeak, not wanting to have to see this. "Theo…Theo?" She squeezed her eyes shut and inched towards where she figured the door would be. She cleared her throat loudly and groped the wall to find the doorknob. "Theo! Wake up!"

She heard him shift around and gave a sigh of relief. "Good. You're awake." She was about to uncover her eyes when she heard him begin to snore. She made a face and turned, positive her sense of direction was right and that she was facing the hot tub.

She uncovered her eyes and cursed her mother for not giving her survival skills. She was facing Theo. 

But, thankfully, the blanket covered him more than he was a few minutes ago.

She took a deep breath and walked over to the bed, praying that he didn't move or do anything else to cause the blanket to fall all the way to the floor. "Theo!"

Theo opened his eyes slowly and looked around confusedly. When he noticed Elysia standing awkwardly nearby, he fixed on her one of his glares. "What do you want?"

Elysia was about to answer, when Theo sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed, causing the rest of blanket to fall to the floor. She gasped and averted her face, so that she wouldn't see anything, and covered her eyes with her left hand, saying quickly," Caterina wants to know if you want to go out and eat lunch with us."

He made a face at her action and said slowly, "No. I don't feel like lunching with that girl."

Elysia nodded and turned to the door quickly. "Okay. Just wanted to know." She was about to make her escape, when she heard him say her name. She closed her eyes and turned back to face him, getting a bit uncomfortable. "What?" she squeaked out.

"Why are you avoiding looking at me?"

Elysia bit her lip and slowly looked at him, forcing her eyes to focus on his face and not wander down anywhere. "What are you talking about? I'm looking at you right now."

He frowned, then held back a smile as he realized what she was doing. "Are you afraid you might see something?"

Elysia stared straight into his eyes and said as truthfully as she could," No. I'm just…" She sighed and narrowed her eyes at him. "You jerk."

He laughed and shook his head. "I only sleep naked at the circus, you know. I have manners."

She nodded, annoyed that he knew what she was thinking the whole time. "Thanks for the newsflash. I better go now. Bye." She took a step toward the door, but stopped when he began to talk to her again.

"What's the rush? Come sit down." He smirked and patted the spot next to him.

Elysia felt herself blush, and she immediately cursed herself for doing so. She smiled weakly and shook her head. "No, I'm fine here. I'll just-"

"What's the problem? All I want is for you to sit down and talk for a while. There's no harm in that, now is there?" He smiled, not bothering to hide the mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

Elysia didn't want to, but she knew if she didn't he would make her anyways. She sighed and slowly walked over to the bed. She sat down quickly next to him and stared straight ahead. "What do you-aaaggghhh!" She screamed when he pulled her on top of him and kissed her cheek. She pulled away and ran out of the room screaming, while Theo laughed.

Caterina raised an eyebrow as Elysia brushed past her, slamming the door to the bathroom shut, and looked at Theo. "I'm not even going to ask." She looked at her watch to change the subject. "So, you aren't coming?"

Theo crossed his arms and looked away from her, trying to stop laughing. "No."

"Well, I guess that's good. I decided to take Elysia shopping. You wouldn't enjoy that."

Theo raised an eyebrow. "Shopping? What for?'

"Have you seen the clothes she has? They're too horrible to even look at. And I don't think your mother's clothes are going to last that long with her."

Theo looked at her quickly. "How'd you know that those were-"

"I grew up with you. I'm not dense you know." She sighed. "I better go pull her out of the bathroom. We need to go." She turned and walked out, but stopped and looked at him for a second. "Be nice. I don't want to deal with your childish acts again." She then walked out, closing the door behind her.

Theo stared at the door, then rolled his eyes. "I don't need to listen to her. She doesn't know what she's talking about." With that, he closed his eyes and went to sleep, dreaming, for some weird reason, about his mother.

"Elysia, what the hell is _that_?!"

Elysia closed her eyes in frustration and slowly faced Caterina, wondering what was wrong this time. 

They had yet to eat, Caterina insisting that they shop first for some decent clothing. And Elysia was getting more annoyed at every store they went to, not liking the rude employees and uncomfortable dressing rooms. She was trying to find the point to why the heck anybody would want thirty people to watch them get dress and decide if what they were trying on looked nice. It made her a bit glad that she hadn't grown up with a rich family.

She smiles as sweetly as she could at Caterina, hoping she was hiding her contempt well and asked," Yes, Caterina?"

Caterina, who didn't seem to know what modesty was, marched over to Elysia and snapped her bra strap. "What is _this_?!"

Elysia frowned and looked down at the strap. "What do you mean? Don't you learn that kind of thing during puberty?"

Caterina rolled her eyes and turned to find a salesclerk. "You know damn well what I mean. That is not a proper undergarment. Makes me wonder if you even have the right size underwear on… Pete! Where the hell are you?!"

Elysia blushed at the last comment as a short, and obviously gay, man approached them. He clapped his hands together and looked at Caterina questioningly. "Yes, madam? What is it?"

Caterina pointed at Elysia. "See that? Go get her the right kind of bras and underwear. She needs whatever you have."

He smiled and looked at Elysia, who tried to cover herself as best as she could, despite the fact that he was not going to check her out anytime soon. "What size is she?"

Caterina glanced at her and tilted her head. "Isn't that your job?"

Pete nodded and walked over to Elysia. "Arms up!" 

Elysia did as she was told, not liking the tone of voice he used. Her eyes widened when she felt his hands reach around her. 

"Ah! She is a size-" Pete cut himself off and smiled at Caterina. "Well, that's not my business to discuss. I will return in a few minutes." He left quickly, avoiding Caterina's looks.

Caterina put her hands on her hips and looked over at Elysia. "It's so hard to find good help these days… Well, what are you doing standing there with your mouth wide open? Get dressed so we can eat!"

Elysia frowned and pulled her shirt on, not understanding Caterina's behavior. "What about-"

"Don't worry about that. The store is sending all of the stuff to the hotel. Theo just has to sign for it and … well, let's just say I haven't let him get away from not going to lunch with me." She smiled at Elysia, slightly scaring Elysia. After a long pause she clapped her hands together, somewhat like Pete did, and said, "Well, let's go!"

She walked out, Elysia reluctantly following.

Elysia slowly chewed her hamburger as she watched Caterina inhale her food. She had never seen anybody eat spaghetti as fast as Caterina did and not choke in the process. It also surprised her that Caterina could eat so fats and so much. She found herself staring at a completely different person, the rude and jealous girl from a few days ago nowhere in sight. Elysia was beginning to believe that the shuttle she and Theo were on had crashed and that she was actually dead. Caterina's behavior was causing a lot of reality problems.

As she listened to Caterina jabber on about some meaningless stuff, she happened to glance over to the side at the passerbys, and nearly choked on her hamburger.

A blonde girl was walking by, her green eyes beyond familiar to Elysia. She looked over at Elysia and Caterina and paused in her walking, obviously recognizing Elysia.

Or so Elysia thought. 

Elysia knew this girl, or did at one point in her life. Nobody could ever forget someone like Jennifer Silverman. 

This was the girl who had been the closest to a friend Elysia ever had at the orphanage. 

Elysia watched as Jennifer walked over to their table, smiling at Caterina. "Caterina! My, it's been so long since I've seen you! How have you been?"

Caterina stared at Jennifer confusedly then smiled as she recognized her. "Jennifer!"

The two hugged as Elysia watched silently.

"How have you been, Jen? You look so grown up!"

"Oh, well, daddy let me join his company, so I've had to take on a more mature appearance." Jennifer smiled some more, not even looking in Elysia's direction. "He didn't think I was smart enough for the job, so I had to change my appearance a bit to prove to him that I was. Or, at least, _looked _that way."

Caterina laughed. "Now, how old are you again? The last time I saw you, you were thirteen and had braces. I can't even remember how long ago that was."

"Eighteen, Cat. She's eighteen. Same age as me." Elysia stared at her food, not even bothering to look up at them. If they weren't doing it to her, then why should she?

That's when Jennifer recognized her. She stared at Elysia, then stopped herself before Caterina noticed. She cleared her throat and smiled faintly at Caterina. "Well, I have to go. My lunch break ended an hour ago. I'll call you later okay?"

Caterina frowned a little at Jennifer's sudden change in behavior. "You have my number?"

Jennifer walked away, waving her hand. "Oh, well my dad knows people. We'll find out one way or another. It was nice seeing you again. Bye." She hurried off, glad to make an escape.

Caterina shrugged and sat back down. "Strange girl, that Jennifer Groff." She looked at Elysia, not noticing that Elysia was out of it. "You done?"

Elysia stared blankly aw Caterina, then nodded when the question processed in her mind. "Uh… yeah. Let's go back to the hotel. I… I'm tired."

Caterina nodded and finished off her food. "Okay."

~ ~ ~ 

A/N: Well, what d-ya think? I know, I know. Not worth the long wait. SORRY! I didn't realize it took that long for me to update. Hehe… I've been having a bit of a writer's block. I hope I didn't scare away all of you who reviewed and stuff. Um, anyways, I kind of made this longer than I expected, but that's okay. Don't worry. Elysia will see Wufei eventually. I'm just trying to figure out what to with her and Theo. Which reminds me. Since this story is doing better than I thought it would do, I'm thinking about writing a sequel to it. But it's up to you nice people out there to tell me that you would read it, 'cuz I don't want to screw things up or anything. So, just R&R and tell me what you think, and I'll see you all in the next chapter. Bye for now! ~_^


	13. Girls Part 1

An Orphan's Life

Disclaimer: If it were mine, I think we all would know my name and how rich I am. But as always, Gundam Wing isn't mine, so STOP FORCING ME TO TYPE IT! ::: . :::

~ ~ ~

As soon as Elysia and Caterina arrived at their hotel room, Elysia rushed to the bed and flopped facedown, ready to fall asleep. She would've gone to sleep right away too, if it weren't for the fact that Caterina was yelling at Theo.

Elysia groaned and slowly looked up as Theo yelled back at Caterina.

"Why the hell didn't you put our clothes in the closet?" Caterina was glaring at Theo, hands on hips.

Theo was glaring back, his arms crossed. "Well, gee, Caterina, I was unaware that I had to put your crap inside the closet, being that I'm not a mind reader!"

"It's a matter of courtesy, you idiot!"

Elysia rolled hey eyes and picked up her pillow, walking unnoticed by Caterina and Theo towards Theo's half of the suite, slamming the door as loudly as she could behind her, before landing blissfully onto his bed, falling asleep the minute her head landed on her pillow.

__

Elysia was seven years old again, playing alone in one of the empty rooms on the third floor of the orphanage. She could hear the boys outside playing in the snow, obviously enjoying themselves. She sighed, wishing she could be out there with them, instead of playing with her stuff bunny alone in a cold room. The bunny was her only friend, the only toy that she was ever given, since the night her mother's beloved bear was taken away from her.

She glanced up a bit, when she heard something nearby. She frowned and strained to hear what it was over the noise coming from the boys outside.

It sounded as if… someone was crying… Someone…crying nearby…

She slowly got to her feet and walked over to the door, pausing over the threshold to listen some more. The crying was coming from a room down the hall. Elysia looked back into the room she was in and wondered if she should go. She took a step forward, then went back to get her stuffed bunny. She then went out into the hallway and wandered slowly to the room where the crying was coming from. She peeked into the room and held back her astonishment when she recognized the little blonde girl with the dark green eyes.

She had seen this girl a few days ago, when she was first brought to the orphanage. She had been so glad to see another girl come at last to the orphanage, someone her age that she could relate to and play with.

But the new girl was taken somewhere on the other side of the orphanage, the side with all the nice rooms reserved for the nuns and non-children.

Elysia hadn't seen the girl at all, up until the moment she stopped in the doorway of the room to see who was crying.

She watched as the girl continued crying, wondering if she should say something. 

She was about to turn and leave as quietly as she came, when the girl looked up and noticed her. She gasped and frantically wiped at her eyes. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

Elysia stared at the girl and held a little tightly onto her bunny. "I hear you crying… I wanted to see what was wrong."

The girl narrowed her eyes at her. "Well, I wasn't crying, so I don't know what you're talking about!"

Elysia stared at her blankly, knowing that she saw tears falling down the girl's face. "Okay." She turned to leave again, but the girl stopped her.  
"Wait! Don't go…" She stared at Elysia, a bit curious. "You're Mary, right? The nuns said you couldn't talk and didn't like to be with others."

Elysia made a face at the name. Since the day she had first arrived at the orphanage, the nuns insisted on calling her Mary. They even enforced the boys to do the same. She didn't understand why they did it, and it angered her that they still did. She looked at the girl and straightened up a little. "My name is Elysia. They call me Mary, but my name is Elysia."

The girl nodded and flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Well, my name is Jennifer Silverman. I lived on all the colonies in space."

Elysia nodded slowly, wondering why she had changed her mood so quickly. Her eyes were back to their normal color, as if she hadn't been crying at all. "Why are you here?"

Jennifer looked down a little. "My… my family is gone and I was brought here."

Elysia nodded a little in understanding. Most of the boys were dropped off at the orphanage, because their parents didn't want them anymore, or couldn't afford to take them with them wherever they had happened to be moving. Perhaps this girl who lived on all the colonies had been through the same thing….

"So, it's just you? You don't have any brothers? Or sisters?"

Jennifer looked out the small window in the room. "My brothers were with my mom."

Elysia frowned a bit. 

So, Jennifer's parents left her, since she was a girl and was easier to dispose of. She heard stories from the boys that they were left because they weren't stronger than the brothers that were kept.

She watched as Jennifer struggled to hold back tears. "Where did your mom go?"

Jennifer bit her lip and said, her voice cracking a little," To Heaven."

Elysia nodded even more. She had heard of this Heaven. That's where some of the boy's parents went. She never heard of it before, until she came to the orphanage. Apparently it was a popular place where parents went to after they abandoned their children in this hellish orphanage.

"So they brought you here when they left?"

Jennifer stared at her a bit confusedly and nodded a little. "The police brought me here. They said I needed to if I wanted to live."

Elysia made a face at the last comment, but ignored it as she asked another question. "So, you were crying because you missed them?"

Jennifer nodded a little. "And because I miss my daddy and my baby sister."

Elysia grew a bit more confused. She had heard of these men called "dad" as well. She had never known what exactly they were, except that they were monsters who drank a lot and caused some of the boys at the orphanage to have bad cuts and bruises and scars that wouldn't go away. 

"Where did your daddy and sister go?"

"The police told me they went with my mommy to Heaven."

"They went together?"

Jennifer shook her head. "My mom and brothers went in their car and my daddy…" She let out a whimper and tried harder to hold back the tears. "I was with him in the woods… We got separated and… He was holding Sara, so he couldn't hold my hand good…" She let the tears fall down. " I told him I was getting tired and he kept on going… I fell down, but he kept on going… And the men who were chasing us ran by me and were going after us…" She wiped her eyes and calmed down a bit at a thought. "I think he ran so much and so far and so fast… That he made it to Heaven before the men could get him…" She looked at Elysia, slightly smiling. "And because he was holding Sara, she went with him too… So, now they're all together… in Heaven. Waiting for me…" She lost the smile and began to cry hard again.

Elysia didn't know what to say, so she stood silent for a while. After a long awkward silence she walked over to Jennifer and handed her her prized stuff bunny. "Here. You can have him. Maybe he'll make you happy, like he has for me." She smiled a little as Jennifer stared at her in shock and took the bunny slowly. 

"Thank you."

Elysia nodded and walked out, wondering how Heaven must look like.

~ ~ ~ ~

A/N: Was it worth the wait? Sorry I took too long again. I just needed some time to organize my thoughts into a decent chapter. I'll try to update again with the second half as soon as I can. Until then, R&R as usual and see you next chapter. ~_^


	14. Girls Part 2

An Orphan's Life

A/N: Yay! I finally figured out how to update! *Does a dance* "Kay, well I AM VERY SORRY for not getting this darn chapter out right away. My family was going through some probs that took to long to get rid of. I apologize a million and one times for keeping you nice people waiting so long. I hope I did not piss you all off and make you completely forget what the heck this story is about. Well, sorry for further delay, so please R&R. ~_^ 

Disclaimer: *Sigh* This is not an actual part of the Gundam Wing series, so we can see that Gundam Wing is not mine.

~ ~ ~

Elysia woke up to the sound of herself crying. She opened her eyes and sat up slowly. 

It was obviously nighttime, but just how long was she asleep?

She frowned and looked at the clock, a little confused on why the suite sounded so quiet. *_Geez, it's already 6:30. I wonder if Caterina and Theo left to go eat._ * She frowned some more when she remembered the tears on her face. She wiped them away halfheartedly and got to her feet. 

She made a face when she hit the nightstand by the bed and knocked off some papers. She sighed and bent over to pick them up, glancing over them quickly. *_Flower order and dinner reservation? I wonder what he's up to now. *_

She walked out of the room and went towards the bathroom, stopping when she saw a piece of paper on the door. She raised an eyebrow and took it off the door, reading what was written.

_Hey Elysia, since you were taking too long with that nap of yours, me and Theo left already to go eat dinner. Take a shower and put on that new blue dress we got this afternoon, and go downstairs. The guy at the front desk will tell you the name of the restaurant. Don't worry about getting lost, because there should be a driver out front waiting for you. Have fun! We'll be waiting._

Cat 

Elysia blinked and read it over a few more times. "Why does this sound bad?" She shrugged and went to take a shower.

Caterina tapped her fingers impatiently on the table. "You'd think with the money I'm paying, these waiters and cooks would be done by now." She frowned and looked over at Theo when he didn't say anything. "What the hell's wrong with you? Ever since Elysia and I got back from shopping, you've been acting weird."

Theo stared at her blankly and leaned back in his chair. "I have my reasons."

Caterina raised here eyebrows. "Oh? And what might they be?"

"If I told you, I might have to kill you."

She smirked and looked away. "I'd like to see you try."

There was a pause, then Theo said, slightly annoyed, "I've been thinking about my mother."

Caterina looked back at him slowly. "Your mom? Why on earth and the colonies would you be thinking of your mom?"

Theo shrugged. "Because I was reminded of her."

"By what?" Caterina turned in her chair to face him better. "Or who?"

"Elysia."

Caterina grew more confused. "Elysia? But she's nothing like your mom. Or, how your mom was…" She frowned at how lame she sounded.

Theo shrugged again. "When I first met Elysia, she mentioned her mom being murdered, and it made me think of my mom, because…"He trailed off, and looked down at he memory.

Caterina nodded slowly as she understood what he meant. "Oh… I didn't know that… Is that why she had your mom's clothes?

Theo shook his head. "No. She didn't have any, so I gave her my mom's clothes since she looked as small as my mom did… I… I didn't realize they were going to be exactly the same size, though." He looked up at Caterina. "I guess that made me think of her more."

Caterina stared at him and sighed. "You two are so much alike, it's not even funny." She looked away and glared a bit at any waiter who passed by. "Where the hell is our damn food?"

Theo shook his head at Caterina's quick change of moods and played with his fork, wondering if Elysia was okay. She seemed out of it when they got back from shopping and it bugged him when she went to sleep right away and wouldn't wake up when he and Caterina were calling her name. He hoped she was feeling all right.

As Elysia stepped into the shower and turned the water on, she couldn't help to hold back the memories that came rushing to her mind. She closed her eyes as the hot water hit her face and tried to hold back as much tears as she could.

After she had given Jennifer her bunny, it took a few more weeks before she saw her again. It was Christmas Eve, actually. She remembered because of how the orphanage looked.

The front hall by the entrance had a tree so big that it reached the top of the railing on the second floor. Red ornaments, gold ribbons… 

She remembered the tree itself and how nice it was, since it was an obvious attempt by the nuns to draw visiting eyes away from the bottom of the tree, where there wasn't a single present for the kids. The few square packages that were there were just for the workers.

She was the only one who got presents though, from the nice man with the violet eyes. As cruel as the nuns were, they gave her the gifts he always sent. 

She never understood why, until years later when she realized that it was a partial cause to why the other kids were mean to her. As long as she got something from someone when the other kids weren't, they were going to be jealous and mean to her. She had no control over this, but in the end, she stopped receiving the presents, so the cruel acts were less frequent.

She had just put on the new jacket she got, a light blue one that coincidentally matched her eyes, when Jennifer Silverman walked in, wearing a new pair of mittens and a scarf. 

They stared at each other silently for a few minutes, before Jennifer smiled and said, "Come out and play with me!"

Elysia's eyes widened and she shook her head quickly. Didn't this girl know it was practically illegal to play with her?

Jennifer made a face. "Why not? We can play in the snow."

Elysia fumbled for an answer. "The boys… They don't like me playing with them…"

Jennifer scoffed at the comment. "So? We can play by ourselves." Without waiting for an answer, she grabbed Elysia's hand and pulled her out of the room. "Come on!"

As scared as she was, Elysia soon found that she was enjoying herself. A snowball here, dodge there; she was having fun for the first time since she arrived at the orphanage.

Then the boys came.

They saw how happy she was. And with the new girl as well. One of the boys yelled at them.

Elysia and Jennifer stopped playing ad looked over at the group of boys. Elysia's face fell, knowing what would happen next. She looked at Jennifer fearfully.

Jennifer had her hands on her hips, obviously not getting that the boys were going to do something. "What do you want? We're playing!"

The boy who yelled at them stepped forward. "This is our spot!"

"So? We were here first! You can go somewhere else." She turned her back on them.

This angered the boy more. "No, because this is our turf! _You_ can go somewhere else and find your own place to play."

Jennifer turned back and narrowed her eyes at him. "Well, I don't care whose turf it is. You lost it the minute me and Elysia stepped out here, so go away!" She threw a snowball at him and smiled in triumph as it hit him right in the face. 

Elysia's eyes were even bigger when Jennifer did this. She couldn't believe someone would do that.

The boy wiped at the snow on his face and made a growling noise. He ran at Jennifer and tried to hit her, but Jennifer merely stepped to the side and tripped him. She looked at him as he turned over on his back, trying to hold back tears. "I'll tell you what. You stay out of my way and I'll stay out of your way. We don't talk to each other. We don't fight with each other. Got it?"

The boy nodded quickly.   
Jennifer smiled. "Good." She kicked him. "Now, go away!"

The boy nodded some more and jumped to his feet, running away quickly. The rest of the boys followed reluctantly.

Jennifer was laughing and Elysia was completely confused.

Never had anyone hit or threaten others like Jennifer had just done. And never had anyone looked as afraid of a person as that boy did. 

This new feeling was something she was beginning to like.

But later that night, the boy Jennifer had beaten up was going to the room Elysia was sleeping in. Nobody makes him look like a fool in front of his friends. Especially some dumb new girl. He was getting revenge on Jennifer. 

He knew he couldn't hurt her. She knew how to fight back. But if he hurt Mary, then Jennifer would have no one to play with and the turf would be the boys' again.

All Elysia remembered was that she was looking at the stars again, wishing her mother would come save her, when she felt herself being pushed out the window.

She screamed and managed to grab a hold of the sill, but she was losing her grip on it, the snow melting under her fingertips. She looked up and saw the boy smiling triumphantly. 

Her eyes widened, knowing what was happening. She tried to get a better grip on the sill but he started to hit her fingers. 

Her hands were losing feeling, the cold getting to her. She screamed as she lost her grip and began to fall. 

The next thing she knew, her right arm was hurting and she couldn't breathe. She tried to sit up, but she hurt all over. She couldn't even cry, the pain was so much for her.

Then Jennifer was there, standing over her, helping her to her feet. She had heard her screaming and ran out when she heard something fall. 

She led her to the nuns' rooms. But the boy who pushed Elysia was there, having already told a story to the head nun that Elysia was trying to hurt him and that when she tried to push him out the window, he moved and she fell out instead.

Since he had a bruise on his face from the snowball Jennifer had thrown, the story was believable.

Jennifer was about to explain what happened, when Elysia stepped forward and said she was sorry and that she wouldn't try to hurt the boy anymore. 

She knew what would happen to Jennifer if it came out that _she _was the one who hit the boy. Elysia knew what happened to the kids who fought. She had the marks to prove it. She didn't want this new girl to get hurt, this girl who stood up to the older boys. She had spirit, something that Elysia had lost so long ago. 

And since the boy was getting more than what he wanted, he nodded in agreement with Elysia's false story, so it was impossible for Jennifer to tell the truth.

So, Elysia was whipped again for fighting and costing the nuns more money to fix a broken arm that shouldn't have been broken to begin with.

And Jennifer was forbidden to go near the troublemaking Mary. Eventually she found friends within the arrival of the new older girls, and Mary was all but forgotten…

Elysia opened her eyes and sighed. She turned the water off and stood for a few minutes. She hated how she was treated at the orphanage. Every person she was nice to was mean in return. But it was in her soul practically to always be nice and to never fight back, unless it was absolutely necessary.

She stepped out of the shower and got dressed, hoping she wasn't too late for dinner.

~ ~ ~

A/N: Well, was it worth the wait? No? Ah, well, too bad. Just continue reading. There's another chapter. -.-:


	15. Running

An Orphan's Life

Disclaimer: Do I really have to type it?… Oh, yeah. Lawsuits. *Clears throat* I DO NOT OWN GUNDAM WING AND ANY OF IT'S CHARACTERS!!! *Ahem* Thank you. -.-;

~ ~ ~

Caterina sighed and looked boredly over at Theo. "Is it here yet?"

He shook his head. "How many times do you have to ask?"

"Until they bring us our food." She closed her eyes and tried not to fall asleep. 

"Well, maybe if you hadn't scared all the waiters, someone would've brought it by now."

She opened her eyes and glared at Theo. "They had it coming! If they hadn't been so slow-" She cut herself off when she saw Elysia walk in. "Finally! Something arrives!"

Theo followed her gaze and drew in a sharp breath. 

He had seen that stupid blue dress when the delivery men from the stores brought it, but he didn't realize just how different it would look if someone wore it. 

Especially when it was Elysia. 

It was just the right shade of blue that brought her eyes out nicely, and the long slit on the left side showed off her legs that he never quite noticed before until now. It was a good distraction from the low cut front which was drawing the eyes from the other men in the restaurant.

Basically, she was gorgeous and he was mentally slapping himself for being so mean to her.

Caterina knew for a fact that Elysia would look nice in the blue dress, she's a Winner after all, but even she was in shock by Elysia's appearance. Who would've realized that this orphan could catch everybody's attention just by walking in? 

Amazing what one simple dress could do.

She smiled a little, glad that she was involved in this transformation. She was starting to like Elysia. 

The minute her eyes had landed on the poor girl's clothing, she had realized just how bad Elysia had had it. Caterina never really thought about what it would be like to not have her parents. 

Sure, Quatre was always off at business meetings, and Dorothy was always out doing some thing or another, but at least they always came back. A goodnight kiss, someone to say they loved you back, buy you things just because… She never realized just how hard it would be to not have any of that.

She was growing fond of Elysia, kind of like she was a younger sister to her, previously said things erased from her memory.

She wanted to help Elysia feel happy, to get rid of that sadness and longing that was always present in her eyes. It was a bit disturbing to Caterina that someone had never known any kind of true happiness in their entire life. Any happiness for that matter.

Which is why she planned the shopping trip, the dinner, and the potential relationship with Theo. 

She knew they liked each other, but their stubbornness was messing things up. She figured if she set up a few things, like the roses that should be arriving soon, then maybe they would stop acting they hated each other and make with the kissing.

If it weren't for the chance meeting with Jennifer Groff and the damn waiters, then her plans would be going a bit better.

It was obvious that Jennifer and Elysia knew each other. She saw it in the way their eyes met and Jennifer's quick exit. But she wondered just how much they knew each other.

She pushed it out of her mind and smiled at Elysia as she walked nervously over to the table. "Elysia, darling, it's so good that you decided to come."

She smiled back weakly and sat down, glancing quickly to the sides. "I hope I'm not too late. Did you guys eat already?"

Theo snorted and rolled his eyes. "Once again, if someone hadn't scared all the wa-"

Caterina covered his mouth and continued smiling at Elysia. "So, Elysia, how was your nap? Any nice dreams?" She winked at her and motioned at Theo with her eyes.

Elysia's eyes widened and she blushed a little. She looked down and folded a napkin from the table over her lap. "No. I.. Um… "She looked up when a waiter walked over. 

He smiled at her and handed her a menu. "Hello, my dear. Would you like anything to drink while you decide on your order?"

Elysia looked over to Theo as he began to turn an interesting shade of red and nodded slowly. "Sure… Um…Water sounds fine…. Or something…" She frowned as she realized she was probably making an ass of herself in front of all these cool and rich people in a nice restaurant.

The waiter didn't seem to notice, though, mainly because he was looking down the top of her dress. He smiled some more and nodded as he wrote it down on his notepad. "I'll be back with your water shortly and to take your order." 

Caterina perked up at that and said," And our food, ri-"

"Yes, madam. Your… food." The waiter gave her a look and wandered off.

Theo glared at the waiter and looked at Caterina. "That's it. I'm going."

He stood up to leave, but Caterina grabbed his arm and yanked him back in his chair.

"Oh, quit being a baby and stay. You haven't eaten, and I haven't paid yet. Just stay, so that you can see the looks on their faces when I give them their tips." She glared at the passing waiters. "Greedy bastards."

Elysia coughed and looked around, feeling left out.

Caterina glanced at her and smiled some more. "Heh, sorry about that, Elysia. Where were we?"

She opened her mouth, but the waiter returned a bit too quickly, and placed the glass of water on the table. "Here you go, my dear. This water has been taken from a clear spring off a winter mountain in Aspen and filtered here in this very restaurant. I hope it's not too cool for you, eh?"

Elysia nodded slowly, trying to be polite and took a cautious sip of the water. She nodded a bit too exaggeratedly and put the glass down quickly. "Yes, it's, um… fine. Thank you." 

The waiter nodded and bowed a little. "Have you decided on what you wanted?"

Elysia frowned and looked at the menu in her hand. "Oh, no. Not yet." She smiled a little at him.

He nodded again. "Okay, well call me when you're ready." He walked away with a hint of a skip in his step.

Elysia looked at Caterina, eyebrows raised. "What the hell was that all about?"

Caterina smiled and leaned on the table. "Don't you see, honey? You're gorgeous and it's driving the men crazy."

Elysia started laughing. "Me? _Gorgeous?!_ " She looked at Theo. "That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard." She stopped laughing when she saw a strange look in his eyes. She looked away quickly and turned her attention to the menu. "So, um… What are you guys having?" She opened the menu and froze when she saw it was all in French."

Caterina shrugged and pointed to Theo. "He's the one who ordered. I don't know French as well as he does."

Elysia tried not to look at Theo and concentrated on reading the menu. "Oh, okay…" She frowned a little. "I guess I can have the… escargot." She put the menu down and smiled at Caterina. 

Caterina picked up the menu and handed it back to her. "Try again, sweetie. That's snails."

Elysia's eyes widened. "Snails?"

Caterina nodded. 

Theo sighed and went to stand up again. "This is so lame."   
Caterina made a face and yanked him back down. "Stay!"

He glared at her. " No, Cat, I have had enough! This whole night has been-"

Caterina covered his mouth and whispered fiercely into his ear," Sit down, shutup, or your relationship with Elysia is screwed!"

He blinked and stared at her in confusion. "Huh?"

Caterina went to talk again, but she remembered Elysia was close enough to hear something. She sighed and looked apologetically at Elysia, saying, "Please excuse us. We'll be right back," as she yanked Theo to his feet and dragged him away to one of the dark corners of the restaurant. 

Elysia frowned and played with the napkin, wondering what it was that they were doing. Caterina was being awfully nice to her, and the way she kept looking at Theo was a bit unnerving. 

She shrugged this off and went back to deciphering the menu.

In the dark corner, Caterina was whisper yelling at Theo about his lack of manners. "Don't you know how to act around a lady?!"

"Apparently I don't, since-"

She hit him on the forehead. "Let me finish!"

He grabbed at his face, more from shock than in pain, and glared at her. "What the hell has gotten into you?!"  
"Hello! I am trying to set something up here, but your dumbass guyness is getting in the way of everything!"

Theo frowned in confusion. "My guyness?"

"Yes! Can't you see I am having a close-knit operation going on here? And you're ruining it!"

Theo blinked and raised his hands up. "I am now officially lost."

Caterina sighed and pointed to Elysia, who was surrounded by some of the waiters. "You see? I am trying to get you guys together! But you keep messing it up!"

Theo narrowed his eyes at the waiters and looked at Caterina. "What do you mean? Why?"

She hit him with every syllable she said. "Because you two were made for each other!"

Theo flinched from the pain and covered his head. "Would you stop doing that?"

"Not until you admit you like her!"

He glared at her and said, "I _don't _like her."

"Yes, you do!"

"No, I don't." His eyes flashed as he said this.

Caterina paused in her beating and frowned a little. "What do you mean? If you don't like her, then what's with all this weird lovey dovey crap I've been seeing? I know when you like someone as a sister, and that's not what I've been seeing when I look in your eyes. And I know you don't hate her. It's so damn obvious." She brushed a strand of her out of her eyes. "What's going on?"

Theo stared at her blankly for a minute, then looked away. He mumbled something under his breath. 

Caterina frowned and moved closer to him. "What? I didn't hear you."  
He sighed and mumbled again.

Caterina made a face. "Still can't hear you, Barton."

He looked at her and said a little slowly, "I don't like Elysia, because… Because I love her."

Caterina's eyes widened. "You _love _her?!" She turned around and started making shock noises. "How can you love her? You've only known her for… a few days!"

"And? There were others I knew for months and I never liked them, let alone loved!"

"Exactly! How can you be in love with someone you've only known for a few days?!" She rubbed her forehead. "Oh, this is really going to mess up my plans. All that money…"

Theo frowned. "What did you have planned?"

Caterina waved her hand. "Champagne, convenient exit for me, moonlit walk… romance…."

She looked up and sighed. "Well, then again, at least I don't have to worry about forcing you two to fall in love, since it, you know, already happened." She smiled at him, hoping to change the subject. "Heh… Um, why don't we go back to the table before the waiters do something to her?"

Theo nodded and took the bait. He walked quickly to the table, rolling up his sleeves. "With pleasure."

Caterina sighed and followed. "He is _such_ a guy."

Elysia looked up at Theo as he came marching over, death in his eyes. The waiters caught this and took off, leaving Elysia to sit in confusion. She smiled a little and looked towards Caterina. "Enjoy your talk?"

Caterina nodded and sat down slowly. "Uh huh. Had a few things to straighten out with ol' green eyes here." She slapped Theo's ass.  
Theo's eyes widened. He looked to Caterina, obviously pissed off.

She smiled at him and gave a little wink. "You know I'm teasing. Quit acting like that." She smiled at Elysia. "Now, about this visit to Wufei's place. I was thinking we could go after we eat and … well, you know, talk with him. Have a bit of fun at the Chang house."

Elysia's eyes widened at the mention of Wufei's name. How long ago it seemed that she had come here for one specific reason. She had forgotten all about that. She nodded and glanced over at Theo, who was glaring at everything in sight. "That's a good idea. Then I won't have to worry about getting lost… You do know where he lives, right?"

Caterina sighed and rolled her eyes. "I believed I told you that already." She pulled out a piece of paper and winked again at Theo. "But just in case we should get separated, here's the address. Just go to the hotel and they'll give you a map or something."

Elysia nodded and took the paper from Caterina, trying to bite down a feeling of anxiety. She didn't know why she didn't like the way Caterina kept winking at Theo. It's not like either of them liked each other.

She took a sip of her water and watched as Caterina continued talking, smiling constantly. Theo was obviously trying to hold back how annoyed he was, and was glancing over at Elysia a lot. Elysia didn't seem to think about this much, until she realized that he had a strange look in his eyes. 

Not the mean look, the one he had been giving her the whole time they've been together. This look was almost… kind. As if… he was hiding some true emotion…

Her eyes widened when she remembered something.

Back at the circus, when she and Theo had just come out of Catherine's tent and were heading over to get the breakfast that Theo had whined so much for. His little brother, Gabriel, had stated it so simply.

__

He's only nice to girls he doesn't like.

She gulped down the water some more, as she realized that lately, Theo _had _been extra nice to her. 

Did he get more annoyed with her over these last few days?

Ever since Caterina had shown up…

Elysia glanced over at Caterina, who was talking about killing the slow chef. 

Theo was resting his head on one hand and tapping the table with the other. He had a look of sheer boredom and what looked like anger in his eyes, which went in Caterina's direction constantly.

While he was being nice to Elysia, he had been beyond mean to Caterina. They both went out of their way to insult each other and hit one another at any given moment. 

And now that Elysia thought about it, Caterina had been somewhat nice to Theo at the restaurant.

And what were they doing in that corner earlier?

Elysia started to choke on her water, as she came to the conclusion that Theo and Caterina must like each other. It was the only logical thing she could think of.

Caterina and Theo looked at her in confusion as she continued to choke.

Caterina leaned forward. "Are you okay?" 

Theo stood up slightly. "Hey, what's wrong with you? You look a bit pale."  
Elysia waved her hand at them and tried to stop choking. "It's all right… I'm fine." She stood up and put the glass down. "I… I better go. I should leave you two alone." She looked down, trying to remember if she brought anything with her.

Theo made a face and looked at Caterina. *_What the hell is she talking about?_ *

He thought that over and then quickly shook his head. "Why are you in such a hurry to leave?" He looked around at all the people in the restaurant, who were beginning to stare. He frowned and leaned toward Elysia, whispering, "Don't leave me alone with these people!"

Elysia made a face at that. "You have Caterina."

Theo stared at her in confusion. "She's one of them!… Hey, wait. What do you mean by-"

Before he could finish his sentence, a waiter walked over with a bouquet of roses in his arms. "I have a delivery for…"He frowned and tried to read the little card embedded in the roses. "Caterina? … Yes, that's it. From… I can't read this… I think it starts with a … T?"

Caterina made a face. "What?! That's not right!"

Theo stood up quickly and glared at her. "Caterina. If this is some sort of joke-"

Caterina stood up too. " What the hell are you talking about?! Why would I pull something like this?!"

Elysia stood silently in shock, her suspicions coming true before her eyes. She remembered that paper that fell off the dresser in Theo's room. 

A flower order.

There was no doubt about it. 

Theo liked Caterina and not her.

All this time, she had thought… 

And now it was blowing up in her face.

She turned quickly as she felt the tears coming to her eyes. 

She had to leave. Now. 

She started walking away slowly, going faster with each step, then ended up running.

During the commotion with the waiter and Caterina yelling at him, Theo looked over to where Elysia had been standing. His eyes widened when he noticed she was gone.

"Shit!" He scanned the restaurant for any sign of Elysia and managed to catch a glimpse of her leaving through the front doors. 

He looked at Caterina, who was still yelling at the waiter, then ran after Elysia, hoping he could catch her.

Out front, Elysia ran to the limo she came in and knocked on the front window. 

The driver lowered it and looked up at her. "Ready to go so soon?"

Elysia shook her head. "I can walk back. You go ahead and leave."

The driver frowned, a little concerned, seeing the tears in her eyes. "Are you sure?"

Elysia nodded. "Yes. Thank you."

The driver looked at her reluctantly, then sighed and raised the window up. He started the car and drove off.

Elysia watched him leave, then turned and walked down the sidewalk. She knew Theo and Caterina would go to the hotel first to look for her. 

She figured it'd be better if she wandered around the rest of the night, then return early in the morning, when they'd be asleep. She could go in and out quickly, before they even noticed she'd returned.

It was better this way. They could be alone. Together…

Elysia wiped at her eyes and walked faster, trying to stop crying. 

~ ~ ~

A/N: And that was the second chapter. You can R&R now or you can R&R later. Or you can go on to the next chapter. -- 


	16. Bars

An Orphan's Life

Disclaimer: … I don't own it. Gundam Wing, that is. *Sigh*

~ ~ ~

Theo ran out of the restaurant doors and stopped, just in time to see the limo drive off. He watched it disappear in the distance, trying to catch his breath.

He mentally slapped himself for not catching her in time. Now, he would have to wait for Caterina.

Who, by the way, was just walking out of the restaurant, yelling, " You guys better keep working slow tonight, because you all will be fired tomorrow!" 

She turned to Theo, shoving things into her purse. "I am _so_ suing this place!" She frowned when she noticed his face and Elysia not with him. "Hey, what's wrong? Where'd Elysia go?" She looked around quickly.

Theo looked down. "She went to the hotel."

Caterina's eyes widened. "Without you?" She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Well, now, that's just peculiar."

Theo made a face and looked at her. "Didn't you notice she was upset?"

Caterina looked up and continued tapping her chin. "No, not really. I was kind of preoccupied with our lack of service."

Theo rolled his eyes and faced the street. "Figures," he muttered. He crossed his arms. "This is all your fault."

Caterina blinked and looked at him slowly. "What?" 

Theo watched the cars speeding by. "You made a big deal out of nothing."

Caterina frowned some more and motioned at the restaurant. "Hey, well they _were _going slow!"

Theo sighed. "Not the restaurant, Cat."

Caterina blinked and stepped closer to him. "Hey, you don't mean…" She trailed off and stared at him silently.

* _Geez, what's with him? Why is he acting so weird? I thought he liked my plan… _*

She placed a hand on his shoulder. "Hey… um…"

Theo looked down. "She doesn't feel the same way."

Caterina's eyes widened, a bit taken aback from this statement. "W-what? You can't be serious… How can you tell?"

Theo finally looked at her, a strange look in his green eyes. "Didn't you notice how she was acting? She looked like she didn't want to be around us." *_Mainly me_. *

Caterina frowned. "As I have previously stated, I didn't notice anything because of the bad ser-" She cut herself off and shook her head. "But that's not important." 

She made a face at the way Theo was acting. He never got this way about anything. Especially when it involved a girl.

"Um… what do you want to do now?"

He sighed. "I'm going back to the hotel to sleep." He narrowed his eyes slightly at her. "Why? What were _you_ going to do?"

Caterina shrugged. "Drink." She glanced at the restaurant behind them. "I usually drink when I get bad service at restaurants. Alcohol always makes up for it."

Theo rolled his eyes. "Only you would believe that… I bet your dad doesn't know about this."

Caterina shook her head, a bit smugly. "Nope."

Theo shook his head. "And I bet your mom got you in this habit."

Caterina nodded again. "Yep. But she doesn't drink as much as I do. And I haven't killed anybody yet, so I don't find a problem with it."

Theo sighed. "Always looking on the bright side of bad things." He looked to the parked limos nearby. "You don't need the limo to go do this, do you?"

Caterina shook her head and waved her hand at him. "Go right ahead. The best bars are easier to get to by walking." She put her jacket on and walked off. "Goodnight, Barton."

Theo watched her leave, then walked away to their limo, feeling sleepy already. 

" Goodnight, Winner."

Elysia sat on a barstool in a dump of a bar. She had been getting cold outside, so she decided to go inside one of the many bars she saw, hoping to get warm. 

Of course, she went inside what was probably the worst one in the colony.

It was just her luck that that would happen. 

She watched the men in the bar and felt a bit uncomfortable, because they were looking back at her.

She focused on the counter in front of her and didn't look up when the bartender plopped a glass of some alcoholic beverage in front of her.

She then realized what happened and looked up at the glass, frowning at it.

Shouldn't he have asked her age first? Or at least make sure she had even wanted a drink?

"You look a bit dressed up to be in a bar,' a deep voice said from behind her.

She made a face and turned to face the speaker. "That has got to be the lamest pick up line I have ever heard. " She frowned when she noticed the speaker was a young guy, nothing like the much more older perverted men around him. 

He had dark brown hair that was cut fairly short, his long bangs slightly covering his violet eyes. 

He smiled some more and sat next to her. "What are you doing in a place like this? You seem way out of place."

She narrowed her eyes and stared at him. After a long pause, where he just kept smiling, she turned back to the counter and picked up the glass. She sighed and looked at it slowly. "What about you?"

He stared at her, puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"Why are _you_ here? You don't seem like you belong either… much." *_Probably trying to score with some whore. _*

The guy shrugged. "I like going to bars at night and frightening young girls who don't belong in them, in the hopes that they will no longer go to them."

Elysia frowned and looked up at him. "Seriously?"

He laughed and stuck a hand out towards her. "The name's Shane. You must be gullible."

Elysia glared at him, but shook his hand. "Actually, my name is Elysia."

Shane laughed some more. "Well, I'm actually a bit of a swinger here in the colonies. Work all day, party all night. Now, that's _my _idea of fun."

Elysia frowned. "Swinger? You sleep around all night?"

She frowned some more as she tried to picture the cheerful guy next to her coming up to every girl on every colony. How did he go place to place every night and not run into the same people?

Shane started laughing at her expression, seeming to read her mind. "I go to the same three colonies for a month, then switch to three other colonies. And I only go to the ones closer to earth, since I live there. My dad gets mad if I'm late to work, so I have to stay close."

Elysia grew more confused as he went on. She just couldn't believe that this guy hit on women every night and probably drank, but had the maturity to stay near his job and listen to his father.

He had to be lying.

He smiled at her some more. "Anyways, you never answered my question."

Elysia frowned, then nodded when she remembered. "Oh, that. Um… I don't really want to talk about it."

Shane raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Let me guess." He closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead a little. "You're here, because of a guy."

Elysia made a face. "Most women in bars are usually in them, because of guys."

Shane shook his head and waved his hand. "Maybe, but you're in here for a different reason."

Elysia smiled in amusement and leaned back, starting to enjoy this. "Aren't we all?"

Shane opened an eye at her. "You're breaking my concentration."

Elysia laughed. "Sorry."

Shane nodded slightly and reclosed his eye. " As I was saying… this guy. He's special. Different. You like, or, dare I say, _love_, this guy. But you don't know why."

He opened his eyes to see her expression. 

Elysia was staring at him blankly, obviously trying to hide her emotions so as to make it more difficult for him to continue. 

Shane smiled, liking her silent defiance.

She reminded him of someone he had loved for years.

But that was something he quickly pushed out his mind, the pain of heartbreak too much for him.

He cleared his throat and went on. "He's arrogant and rude and seems to hate the sight of you. In fact, you don't even know why you like him. You beat yourself up and yell at yourself, because you let your feelings control you." He studied her face as she began to show that he was, indeed, correct. "But then, all of a sudden, he's different. He's nice to you, and seems to show concern, affection, and all that other crap that makes you stop beating yourself up and go,' Oh, _that's_ why I love him'… And then, everything feels right, like… That's the way it's supposed to be." He paused, getting caught up in his words. He looked down slightly, remembering his first and only true love again. 

Elysia was looking down as well, somewhat in shock of him being correct. Everything he said was right.

Except…

She looked up at him and tried to phrase her thoughts right. "Um… But what do you do when the other person doesn't feel the same way?"

Shane frowned, then shrugged. "What can you do? You can't change how the way you feel or the way he treats you. You just have to go on with your life and hope he eventually sees what you see." He shrugged again. "Or you can force yourself to not love him anymore. But I wouldn't bother with that. You can never force yourself to stop loving, no matter how hard you try. There's always something that has a hold on you."

She nodded, taking this in slowly. "So, what do you do, then?" 

Shane shrugged for the third time. "I don't know," he said softly. "I'm still trying to figure that part out."

Jennifer Silverman, or Groff, as she now went by, looked around her family's living room, which was filled with her adoptive parents' friends and business associates. 

It was another meaningless party in the Groff household, something that Jennifer never really liked about her new parents. 

She loved them almost as much as her real parents, but these parties always put a strain on their relationship.

The reason for tonight's soiree was that it was Daughter Day. This was why Jennifer was actually allowed in the room with her parents and gets to drink. 

Not that she liked to drink, no alcohol was something she never appreciated, but it was thought, she supposed, that count.

She sighed as she sat on a chair near the bar, bored out of her mind. Nobody had bothered to talk to her, which bugged her, even though she didn't really care. She hated talking to these people. Especially when they were all drunk.

She tugged on her new dress uncomfortably, the older men's gazes freaking her out a bit. 

What seemed like a good idea of rebellion at the mall was now a really bad idea. She should've known that something like this would happen.

Then she frowned, remembering the incident at the mall. 

She hadn't expected to run into somebody she knew. Especially someone from the orphanage.

Jennifer couldn't get over the fact that she had seen Elysia. And with Caterina Winner too, of all people.

She had changed, somewhat, Caterina, that is. She seemed nicer, almost… more fulfilled.

But Elysia…

She still had that sadness in her eyes. That look of defeat she always had around her. Something that looked like she had just accepted what was handed to her and didn't bother fighting about it. She just took it…

That was the look that had always bugged Jennifer. Not because it was almost an admission of weakness, but because it showed that Elysia had never bothered to stand up for herself. She had a fear embedded inside her, a fear that was placed inside her long before Jennifer had arrived at the orphanage.

And Jennifer had never been able to thank Elysia for covering for her that one night. Jennifer had been new to the orphanage, so she didn't realize the consequences of her actions. Only a few years later did she see what happened to bad kids at the orphanage.

She had seen one of the boys get whipped for falling down the stairs and breaking a leg. 

She then understood why Elysia took the blame. Elysia didn't want Jennifer to get the same beating as that boy did that one day.

But Jennifer didn't get why Elysia took the beating for her. There seemed to be another reason. Something Jennifer never got the chance to ask. 

And Jennifer was ashamed about that too.

She should've received the punishment that was rightfully hers, not Elysia. It wasn't fair.

That's why she couldn't look at Elysia at the mall. She felt the guilt so strongly. She had to leave, to get rid of it.

But the encounter left her with a hole in her life. Long ago, she had forced the orphanage away from her memory. She didn't have a pleasant time there and she wasn't going to paint rainbows around it and say it was a good place. 

No, it was far from being a good place. She had sometimes found herself wondering if she would have been better off on the streets.

Now, though, Jennifer felt she had to do something. Something for Elysia. 

From what she saw, it appeared that Elysia had never been adopted. And that saddened her to the core. 

Jennifer had thought she would die in the orphanage, before her new parents had saved her. 

And she was only there for three years.

Jennifer decided that she would look for some sort of living relative to Elysia. There had to be someone out there for her.

Jennifer had just found out she had a distant cousin alive still. And that cousin had adopted a child a long time ago.

If there was hope for Jennifer, then there was hope for Elysia.

All she had to do was contact Elysia somehow. And get all the information she could about her. And there was only one person who could help her with this. Jennifer had to call her as soon as possible. 

Caterina Winner was the one person she needed to help her make Elysia happy.

~ ~ ~

A/N: And that was the third new chapter. Go on to the next one, stop right now, review, or… do something else. And can I just comment and say that Quatre and Dorothy's genes screw up whatever innocent child they have. And why does Elysia always meet weird people?


	17. Dream

An Orphan's Life

Disclaimer: Until the day I buy out all the Gundam companies and do all the paperwork, I don't own Gundam Wing.

~ ~ ~  


Theo walked into the hotel room, feeling more tired with each step. He trudged slowly to his room, slightly noticing that Elysia wasn't there, and flopped onto his bed with a sigh.

This was a day he wanted to forget. 

First off, Caterina made him think about his mother, which was a subject he had tried to avoid most of his life. Then, Ms. Winner planned the stupid dinner, which caused a lot of problems, not only for him and Elysia, but for the people at the restaurant, as well. 

Now that Theo thought about it, Caterina was the source to many of his problems, even way back in their childhood.

That fall off the roof had given him a broken arm and leg, which prevented him from doing his first trapeze act that he was supposed to do the next night. His dad went and let his cousin Misha, who Theo had been fighting with to do the stupid act to begin with, do the act instead.

Now, because she did that first show, she was a highly paid and wanted circus act. If Theo hadn't fallen off of the roof, _he_ would've been the richest circus performer in the galaxy, not Misha.

Damn Caterina and her conniving ways!

Theo closed his eyes, and tried to force himself to not think about Caterina and all the mean things she did to him. 

He succeeded, only to end up thinking about Elysia instead. The bed still smelled of the perfume she was wearing when she and Cate- _that awful person_, had returned from the mall. 

He breathed in the scent deeply, wondering what she had dreamed about, sleeping here. 

Was it about her mother? Or someone else?

He sighed again at the thought of mothers.

He remembered his mother so well.

She was so beautiful and kind and loving and…

He slowly drifted off to sleep, dreaming of the night his mother died.

__

Theo was seven years old. He had snuck into his parents' tent again, as he liked the comfort of being near them, and crawled under their bed.

He liked sleeping here, for some odd reason. He figured it was because he was with his parents, but not in their way.

He snuggled down into his blanket and closed his eyes to sleep. A noise from outside the tent caused him to stay awake. 

He opened his eyes a little and listened.

The circus was pretty quiet at night, the only noises coming from the animal cages, which weren't loud or frequent.

He wondered if he was imagining things when he didn't hear anything else. He sighed and went to close his eyes, when he heard it again,

Yes, there it was. Voices. Male voices. They were talking pretty loud.

Theo frowned and looked out the side of the bed where he could see shadows on the tent.

He watched as the shadows moved inside to where he and his parents were sleeping.

The voices had stopped.

Theo moved back from the side of the bed and inched closer to the middle.

He saw five pairs of black boots, all of which were surrounding the side where his father was sleeping.

He held back his surprise when he heard the sound of a gun being cocked.

He moved further back, not knowing what to do. 

At that moment, he heard the bed above him move and his father's voice. Then the guys shouted. 

Trowa must've heard the gun as well.

Theo covered himself with his blanket out of fear and tried to get an understanding of what was happening.

He heard his mother wake up and gasp.

Trowa was now standing up on the floor where the men were standing, and was fighting with the men.

Theo heard Trowa yell at his mom.

"Kate! Go protect the kids!"

Theo heard his mother say." Okay!"

He looked over to the other side of the bed, where he saw his mother's feet turn to the other side of the tent and run next door to where his siblings were sleeping.

He looked back at his father, who appeared to be fighting well.

He bit his lip, knowing somebody had to protect his mom.

He gripped his blanket tightly and crawled out from under the bed and darted out of the tent before anybody saw him. 

He looked outside, the cold air biting into him, wondering which way his mother went. He turned to both sides, then decided to crawl under the heavy tent, figuring his mother was already inside.

Then he heard it.

His mother's screams.

He felt a cold chill crawl up his back as he turned to the left and saw his mother being held down by two men in black. He gasped and went to go help her, but he wasn't fast enough.

Theo remembered seeing the man come out of the shadows behind the two men and his mother.

The man had a malicious smile on his face, like he enjoyed seeing Theo's mother in pain.

He raised a gun up in his right hand and pressed it into her head. He gave a laugh as he pulled the trigger.

Theo's eyes widened as he heard the loud crack of the gun. 

He watched as the men let go of his mother and saw her fall face first into the ground, blood spraying everywhere. 

He tried to get a hold of himself as all three men started laughing and walked away casually, his mother lying still on the ground. He stared at her as she stayed where she was.

Not moving.

Not even a slight twitch of the fingers.

Theo forced himself to turn away from his mother's lifeless body and go into the tent. He had to protect Gabriel and Rene.

Gabriel was standing up in his crib, having woken up from the gunshot. He watched Theo as he ran up to the crib and tried to get him out.

"Momma?" he inquired, his baby voice at a whisper.

Theo wiped at his eyes as they began to fill with tears. "Shh!" He pulled Gabriel out of the crib and went over to Rene, who was still asleep. He picked her up gently and crawled under his bed that was nearby. He motioned for the two year old Gabriel to do the same.

Gabriel crawled under the bed, just as two of the men ran in.

Theo and Gabriel watched as the men looked around the room quickly.

"Nothing in here," one said.

"They must've gotten the kids out before we got here," the other said.

"Should we go after them?" the first one asked.

The second one shook his head. "No. The others will get them in the woods… I think we got the wrong woman."

"Why do you say that?"

"She didn't look like the picture."

"Yeah, but she's on the run. Change in appearance is common."

The second man looked reluctant. "No. This one was different. I think she was Treize's sister."

"Kushrenada?" The first man seemed surprised. Then he shrugged. "Casualties are common. Mistakes happen. C'mon. We got to leave this place."

The second man nodded.

They both ran out.

Theo frowned, trying to make sense of what the men had just said.

For what seemed to be an eternity later, his father finally walked into the tent, a few bruises and cuts on him. But the sorrowful look in his eyes was a good distraction from his battle scars.

He looked down as Theo crawled out from under his bed and walked over to him slowly. 

Trowa held his arms out as Theo handed him the still sleeping Rene. Gabriel came over and stood next to his brother.

Trowa stared at his three young children silently. 

Theo had always figured it was because his dad wasn't sure how to break the news to his children that their mother was no longer around.

Trowa kissed Rene on the forehead and motioned for Theo and Gabriel to come closer to him. 

Gabriel toddled over, but Theo stayed where he was at, knowing what was coming. He stared at Trowa, wondering when Trowa would say something.

Trowa finally sighed and went to lay Rene back in her crib. Gabriel followed and raised his hands up, wanting to be laid down as well.

Trowa bent over and picked Gabriel up.

Then Gabriel said it. "Momma?"

Trowa paused and looked at his son, a strange expression on his face.

Theo watched as his father covered Gabriel with a blanket and kissed him on the forehead like he had done with Rene. "Mommy's not here," he had simply said.

Gabriel, having sensed something was wrong, nodded a little and went to sleep.

Trowa watched him for a while, then turned back to Theo.

Theo was still standing in the same spot. He knew his dad was wondering. 

Wondering why Theo seemed to understand what was going on, even though he had supposedly been in his room the whole time. Wondering how Theo knew to get his younger siblings and hide.

Theo continued staring at his dad. 

Trowa finally walked over to Theo and picked him up. He carried him over to his bed and laid him down, covering him with the blankets. He then told Theo," Go to sleep. I'll wake you up tomorrow morning. I have something to tell you."

Trowa stood up and walked out, leaving Theo to think about what was going to happen, now that there was nobody to take care of Gabriel and Rene, while Trowa worked. 

Theo woke up and looked over at the clock on the dresser by his bed. 

Three thirty-five.

He frowned and sat up in his bed, wondering why Elysia and Caterina hadn't shown up yet. He started to get a little worried.

He rubbed his forehead and tried to forget about the dream he had just had.

His dad had never known that he was under their bed that night. Trowa had never known that Theo witnessed his mother's death. That Theo had seen his mother's killer, and saw his face all the time, having nightmares about the cruel smile and horrid laugh.

No matter how hard Theo tried to erase it from his memory, he couldn't get rid of that awful man and his mother's last moments alive.

Theo closed his eyes and tried to figure out what to do. Should he go back to sleep and assume that one of the girls would eventually show up, or wait up for them?

He sighed, knowing he didn't want to go back to sleep. But he didn't want to wait around for the rest of the morning for Elysia, or even worse, Caterina.

He got out of bed and went to look for his clothes. He might as well go for a walk. Clear his mind and admire the beauty of the colony. It was good idea, since he hardly got to go to the colonies, anyways.

He found his clothes and got dressed. 

Maybe, one day, he would forget that awful night. 

And this night too. 

And he'll be happy again. And he won't feel sorry for his sister whenever she cried, because she couldn't remember her mother's face. And he'll get to cry himself, not having done it since that night. 

And he'll feel human again.

Like he used to.

~ ~ ~ 

A/N: Aww! He's a momma's boy! But who could blame him? Anywho, that was number four. Go on, review, etc. ~_^


	18. Midnight

An Orphan's Life

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing… Well, that was easy. ^_^;

~ ~ ~

Shane and Elysia had long left the sleazy bar behind them, and were walking around the colony. The whole time they were together, they talked. Not cheap, small talk, but the deep, philosophical kind.

Elysia had never felt as close to someone as she did to Shane that night. She found herself telling him things she had never thought she would tell someone. All her fears and traumatizing moments at the orphanage, she was telling him all of these things. 

She felt like Shane was someone she would see again. He felt almost like a brother to her.

She was surprised that she opened herself up so much to a complete stranger. But, then again, he wasn't much of stranger at that point.

Shane paused in his walking and looked at his watch. "Well, I have to get going right now." He looked down to her, being that she was considerably shorter than him, and raised an eyebrow. "Do you have a place to stay tonight?"

Elysia was about to shake her head, when she remembered the paper with Wufei's address on it. She took it out and looked at it slowly. 

It was pretty late to go to somebody's house, especially somebody she didn't know. But it was better than going back to the hotel…

She handed it to Shane, unsure if she should even show it to him.

Shane looked at the paper in his hand and the address scrawled in Caterina's sloppy cursive. "What's this?"

Elysia cleared her throat and shrugged a little. "The man who lives there can help me find another guy who knows where my father is."

Shane nodded as he took this in slowly. "Sounds complicated… Want me to join ya'?"

Elysia thought this over. After what happened at the restaurant, she was pretty sure she wasn't going near Theo and Caterina any time soon. It was best to keep her distance. For now, anyways.

She looked up at Shane and gave a slight nod. "Could you, um, actually take me there. I'm new to the colony, so I don't really know where anything is."

Shane nodded. "Oh, sure. Just follow me." He took off his jacket and wrapped it around Elysia, who then realized she was shivering, and offered his arm to her. 

Elysia smiled and took his arm as they walked off.

Caterina stumbled drunkenly into the hotel room and put her stuff down on the floor. "Theo? You still here?"

She frowned and walked over to his room. She made a face when she saw his bed made up. "Now, where did he go?"

She sighed and turned back to her side of the room. She sat down on her bed and rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Let's see… Theo's not here… Elysia isn't here…" She shrugged and laid down. "Well, if they're taking off this late together, who am I to judge?" She closed her eyes, ready to go to sleep.

She opened her eyes when her cell phone began to ring. "Damn it. I told daddy not to call me this late." She sighed and sat up. 

She reached down to the floor and felt around on the floor for her phone. She picked it up and answered the phone, somewhat annoyed. "Yeah, who is it?"

"Uh… Caterina?"

Caterina frowned at the voice that was obviously _not _her father's and sat up. She looked at her watch, and grimaced at how early it really was. Who the heck got her number and called this early, or late, on her schedule?

She rubbed her forehead and tried to figure out whom she was talking to. "Um, yeah, it's me…"

"Oh, good. You sounded a little… weird… Almost like your mom. Which kind of freaked me out. I thought your dad made a mistake when he gave me your number."

Caterina frowned some more. This voice was _very _familiar. "Um… Okay…" Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. She _had _to know. "Okay, just who the hell is this? Because I am seriously having a memory lapse right now." She mentally cursed herself for drinking so much tonight.

"Oh, sorry about that! I kind of forgot we haven't talked on the phone in a long time. It's me, Jennifer."

Caterina frowned at that. "Jennifer?" Then she remembered. Jennifer Groff at the mall. "Oh! Jennifer!" She blinked. "Why are you calling me?" She narrowed her eyes. "And this lat- er, early."

"Well, I kind of wanted to do something right away, and you're the only one who can help me… Sorry 'bout waking you up."

Caterina closed her eyes. "No, no. That's okay. I wasn't really asleep, yet." She gave a yawn and brushed her hair away from her face. "What'd you want me for?"

"Oh, um… That girl that was with you. I wanted to, um, do something for her."

Caterina frowned. "Elysia?"

"Yeah… I guess this a good time to tell you something about my family… I was adopted."

Caterina's eyes widened slightly at this. She had noticed long ago that Jennifer never really looked like her parents, but she had never thought about why. She stared at the phone for a second, then put it back to her ear. "Okay…" Then it clicked. 

Why Elysia got upset at the mall. Why Elysia was out of it the whole night.

"You two were at the orphanage together," Caterina said as it came to her.

Jennifer's voice came softly. "Yeah… She was there way before I was, but we were there together for three years… She was the only one who was nice to me when I was there… I felt … guilty, because I got to leave before she did, and she deserved to be out of that hell hole a long time ago, before me."

Caterina closed her eyes as she took this in. When she heard Elysia speak about the orphanage, she had assumed the bad treatment was reserved for her only. Now, hearing Jennifer say it, she began to fully understand the harsh reality of the place. How could adults treat children so coldly? Especially children who had already lost their families and probably everything they had?

Caterina forced herself to speak. "So, what did you want to do?"

"I wanted to find a living relative of hers. Someone she could go to."

Caterina frowned. "Well, she's kind of in the process of finding her dad."

Jennifer seemed taken aback and disappointed. "Really? Aw, damn it!"

Caterina held back a laugh as she began to think of something. "But I think we can find someone else for her."

"We can? Who?" She sounded hopeful.

Caterina smiled, knowing that what she was about to suggest would probably be a bad idea. In fact, she knew it was a bad idea. But she had to know. She needed to know. It wasn't fair to Elysia. 

"I think we should locate her uncle."

Jennifer, not knowing the extremity of doing such a thing, grew happy. "Oh, good! That sounds like a good idea!"

Caterina smiled some more, liking the way things were looking up. Now, all she had to do, was figure out what to do about Theo and Elysia's relationship problem. She was going to have an interesting week.

Theo looked up as the artificial snow began to fall. He shook his head, liking the natural elements of earth better. More reasons why he hated space.

He sighed, knowing he should head back to the hotel. He had walked around for a good two hours, and he was getting sleepy again. He managed to not think about anything important or emotional. He was glad to do at least that much.

But now he had to figure out what to do. 

He couldn't stay with Elysia and Caterina that much was for sure. But he didn't really want to head back home. Gabriel was definitely going to say something. And he knew his dad was going to ask him what happened.

He sighed again, knowing that that was the only option he had anyways. He didn't have anywhere else to go. 

He walked towards the hotel slowly, knowing that he would have to explain to Caterina why he was going. He really did not look forward to that.

Hopefully, Elysia was asleep and wouldn't hear him leave.

He paused in his steps at the thought of Elysia, then started again. He was _not_ going to think about her. No. Not at all.

He walked faster.

"This is it," Shane said, stopping in front of a wide one-story house. He looked down at Elysia. "Want me to stay with you?"

Elysia stared at the house in awe and shook her head. "No, you've done enough. Thank you. She went to take his jacket off, but he held up his hand and shook his head.

"Keep it." He smiled. "Maybe as a reminder."

Elysia smiled back. "Thanks." She waved to him and walked up to the house. "I hope to see you again."

Shane gave a slight wave back as he watched her." Don't worry. You will." He thrust his hands into his pockets and walked away, whistling happily.

Elysia smiled as he left, wondering how someone could be as happy and carefree as he was, with no jacket on and the snow coming down on him.

She sighed and turned her attention to the door. This was it. The reason she had come to this colony.

She knocked on the door, mentally going over what she was going to say, hoping that someone was still up.

To her surprise, someone did answer the door.

"Who are you?" a young Chinese girl asked, opening the door a little. She looked at Elysia questioningly, her blue eyes shining. 

Elysia smiled at the girl. "Um… Is Wufei here?"

The girl's eyes widened slightly. She looked Elysia over, probably trying to see if she was a threat or not.

Before she or Elysia could say anything, an older girl came to the door. "Who is it, Crystal?" She pushed aside the younger girl and looked out to Elysia. "Yes, what do you want?"

Crystal glared at the older girl and crossed her arms. "She wants daddy, Jade."

The older girl looked down at Crystal. "Oh, she does?" She opened the door all the way and stepped aside for Elysia to walk in. "Come on in. He's just sitting down to read and drink his tea."

Elysia frowned at Jade's hospitality as she walked in, wondering if the suspicious Crystal was even related to her.

"What is it that you want to see him for?" Jade asked, closing the door. 

Elysia hesitated, not wanting to bore another person with her pathetic story. After a long pause, she shrugged and pulled Shane's jacket tighter around her. "I was told he could help me find somebody."

Jade nodded, not finding anything strange about Elysia's answer. "Follow me. He's over here."

Elysia nodded and followed Jade down a hallway and into a room.

"Father, someone's here for you." Jade looked over at Elysia and nudged her toward a medium- sized Chinese man in a chair.

He looked up at Jade and squinted through the glasses he was wearing. "Your mother?"

Jade made a face and pointed to Elysia. "No, _her_."

Wufei looked over to Elysia and nearly dropped the newspaper he was reading. He stood up and slowly took a step toward her. "Relena?…" He shook his head quickly and took his glasses off, wiping them with a small cloth. "I apologize. Relena's been dead for a long time now…" He put his glasses back on and studied Elysia. "But you're her daughter, aren't you?"

Elysia nodded slowly. 

Wufei took a deep breath and sat back down, motioning for Elysia to sit in a chair by him.

Elysia sat down, not knowing what to think.

Wufei studied her some more and folded his hands. "I suspected those rumors were true."

Elysia frowned. "Rumors?"

Wufei raised an eyebrow." How old are you, exactly?"

"Eighteen."

Wufei nodded. "That would make the time frame about right."

Elysia frowned more, getting confused. "Huh?"

Wufei smiled at her slightly. "About three years before your mother was killed, there were rumors that she had a child. Of course, after she died and no child was shown at the funeral, the rumors went away…" He frowned a little. "I'm guessing you didn't know this."

Elysia nodded. "I just found out a few days ago that my mother was dead."

She hid back her surprise at that statement.

Had it really been four days since she left the orphanage? So much had happened in so little time.

Wufei nodded as she thought that over. "So, I'm assuming you're here to find out where your father is."

Elysia bit her lip. "Yeah, sort of. But Trowa said that you wouldn't know where he would be. He said… I believe it was a Duo… Maxwell would know, but I'd have to ask you where he's at…" She trailed off, realizing how lame everything sounded.

Wufei's eyes widened. "Trowa? You've spoken with Trowa?"

Elysia nodded. "And Quatre."

Wufei stared at her silently as he took that in. "I didn't realize we all had been apart for so long… How exactly did you find them?" 

Elysia frowned. "The… I had a list. And when I got to one person, they would give me more names and places to go to and…" She trailed off, remembering her uncle. She looked down and asked quietly, "You wouldn't happen to know where my… uncle is, would you?"

Wufei stared at her, trying to see why she got a bit upset about asking. "No, actually… Did you want to see him?"

Elysia eyes widened. She shook her head quickly. "Not really. I just… I don't know." She looked down.

Wufei watched here silently then looked to Jade. "Jade, are you up for a trip to the Sank Kingdom?"

Jade, whom Elysia had forgotten was there, nodded. "Sure. Where am I going?"

Wufei looked at Elysia. "Duo's house."

Elysia frowned a little. "Oh, that's okay. I can go by myself."

Wufei shook his head. "I don't think it'd be a good idea to go around by yourself."

Elysia frowned at the statement but didn't comment.

Wufei stared at her a couple seconds longer. " You'll leave first thing in the in the morning. Do you have a place to stay the night?"

Elysia thought a second, wondering if she should go back to the hotel. Maybe she shouldn't. She looked up at Wufei and shook her head. "No, not really."

Wufei looked to Jade, who stood up quickly. "I'm on it. Follow me."

Wufei looked at Elysia, who stood up reluctantly. "Have a good rest."

Elysia smiled back slightly and nodded as she walked out. 

This search was getting stranger and stranger with every person she met.

~ ~ ~

A/N: Do you ever get the feeling when you're watching your favorite shows or reading something really good and your fave characters do things you can't believe they're doing and you just want to jump into whatever it is that they inhabit and just beat the crap out of 'em? I do. All the time. Anywho, that was off the subject. Well, this was number five and the last chapter I could fit on my floppy disk thingamajigger, so you have to stop at this point and either review, read the whole darned story over, or turn the computer off and go to sleep. All of these are optional, of course… Well, see you next time. ~_^ 


	19. Elevators

An Orphan's Life

Disclaimer: Everybody knows Gundam Wing isn't mine. -.-;

~ ~ ~

Theo woke up and looked around the room. Something was out of place. 

He got out of bed and walked over to Caterina's side of the suite. He frowned when he noticed that both beds were made up and Caterina and her stuff were nowhere to be seen. He looked around the room, confused. Then he saw a note on the TV. He made a face at Caterina's lack of face-to-face conversation, and picked it up.

_Had to go. Important business meeting. Leave when you feel like it, but before twelve, 'cuz then the room's not paid for anymore and the housekeeping will come and yell at you for being in the way. Sorry I can't finish the trip with you guys. What a waste of a day!_

Cat

Theo stared at the note, then crumpled the paper in his hand. Figures Caterina would leave like this. She never stayed long after she caused problems

He sighed and looked at the clock. He had a good three hours before he'd have to leave. Three hours best left for sleeping. He went to lie down, when he realized Elysia hadn't shown up at all. 

He paused in his doorway, wondering where the heck she could be. He was getting really worried.

He looked into his room and made a face.

He ought to look for her. He _did_ promise his dad he'd watch her. 

He sighed again and went to get dressed. Damn his feelings.

Elysia walked into the hotel entrance and paused for a second to get her bearings. She had come here for one reason and one reason only. She looked back outside to where Jade was sitting in her dad's car, waiting in the fire lane.

She frowned, hoping Jade wouldn't get in trouble and walked over to the elevators. 

As she waited for the doors to open, she kept repeating to herself that she was here for one thing. She had to get her stuff. Her clothes, her bag… 

She wasn't sure about the things Caterina had bought her the day before. It didn't feel right to take them, but Caterina had said they were a gift. Elysia felt bad for turning down gifts.

The doors opened and she walked in, pushing the button for the forty-seventh floor. She leaned against the rail as the elevator slowly went up.

Were Theo and Caterina in the room, waiting for her? She didn't realize that she had practically ditched them, until she woke up that morning.

She closed her eyes as she remembered last night's conversation with Shane.

She had eventually admitted to him that she had loved Theo, something that she hadn't really thought about since she had been with him.

Shane had said that she should probably wait around for Theo. He said that Theo would eventually love her; it would just take some time.

He also said that if Theo didn't, then he was probably gay anyways, since no guy couldn't help but fall in love with Elysia, she was so nice and beautiful.

Elysia sighed and looked at the numbers at the top of the elevator. She was barely on the twenty-second floor. The elevator was going extra slow today. 

She closed her eyes, trying to catch some sleep for the rest of the ride.

Theo walked out of the room and looked down the hallway. There were two sets of elevators at the hotel. Which ones should he take? He looked left, then right. He turned left and walked a tad faster than usual. He wanted to make sure Elysia was okay.

Elysia opened her eyes and glared at the elevator numbers. She was passing the thirty-fourth floor. Thirteen more to go. What was taking the stupid thing so long?"

She sighed and wondered if Theo and Caterina had even missed her. It sure didn't feel like it.

She watched the numbers, hoping the elevator would hurry up. She wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.

Theo glared at the two elevators before him. Out of all the elevators, he had to choose these ones. He had been waiting for five minutes and not one of them had made it to his floor yet. 

He watched as the numbers on the left one went up slowly, while the one on the right went down just as slow. He was going to be here all day.

He took advantage of the wait and thought about what he should do for the rest of the day. 

He could hang out on the colony, 'til it was time for him to go and get o a shuttle home. Yeah, that would work out fine.

He also came to a decision. The next time he saw Elysia, he would tell her how he felt. Screw his pride. He wasn't going to let it get in the way of what he was pretty sure was his true love. He had to tell her, or he was going to go insane.

Besides, his mother would get mad if he didn't. He couldn't upset his mother's spirit.

Now, all he had to do was find her.

He looked up as an elevator let out a high "ding". The one on the left had beaten the one on the right. He waited for the doors to open. When they didn't, he gave them a good kick. 

"Bastard machines," he muttered as the one on the right finally arrived and opened. He glared at the one on the left as he walked into the right elevator.

Elysia frowned nervously, when the doors didn't open. She had finally made it to her floor and the darn thing wouldn't open. She frowned some more when she heard a clunking noise coming from what sounded like the doors. After another minute, the doors finally opened. 

Elysia walked out as fast as she could, looking back at the elevator fearfully. She didn't like how it went so slow. 

She walked towards the room, deciding to use the other elevators by the vending machines she saw.

As she reached the room, she slowed down a bit and paused at the door. She hoped she was wrong about Theo and Caterina, but she couldn't be sure about that kind of thing. 

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly as she knocked on the door. Her eyes widened in surprise as the door swung open, not having been locked or closed all the way.

She walked in cautiously and looked around. She closed the door slowly and frowned when she saw that nobody was in the room. 

This made it easier for her to gather her things, but she felt a bit disappointed too. 

Why had she wanted to see Theo so bad?

She grabbed her bag that was under one of the beds and began stuffing her clothes in it. She went to one of the closets and stared at the new clothes Caterina had bought her. She sighed and took them out, putting them gently into her bag. 

That's when she noticed Caterina's things were all gone. She frowned and looked around the room, realizing her stuff were the only things left in the room. 

Had they left without her?  
She closed her bag, beginning to get mad. 

They ditched her! 

And they didn't even bother to leave a note or something. They must've been in some hurry to leave her, since the door was left open.

She slung her bag over her shoulder and walked out angrily. 

To think she was disappointed about not seeing them! What jerks. 

She stormed over to the elevators and tapped her foot impatiently, trying to calm down. It wasn't good to be mad. She had to stop. It wouldn't be fair to Jade if she got mad. 

She bit her lip and nodded to herself. She was getting closer to her goal and it wouldn't help to be mad all the time about such things. She was going to find her father soon and begin a new life.

She would just have to forget about the last two days and pretend she had never met Theo or Caterina. She would have to forget that she had actually thought she had found someone she could love.

No, that part was over. It was time to let go.

The elevator finally opened and she walked in, letting out a sigh. She hoped the rest of the day would go well.

Theo wandered around the airport, trying to pass the time before his shuttle left. 

After the long walk around the colony, he was beginning to feel tired. 

His search turned up nothing, except for one account from a bartender who had said he'd seen a girl fitting Elysia's description leave the night before with some guy. Theo, however, disregarded this, since he was pretty sure Elysia would never leave with some guy she didn't know. 

He should've expected something like that from a bartender. The guy was probably trying to start problems, since he had a boring life.

Although, it _was _Theo's fault for even looking in the bars. Elysia was under aged. What would she be doing in bars?

When he had returned to the hotel to get his things, he had noticed all of Elysia's stuff was gone, except for a small wooden box. He then realized that she had come back and left while he was out looking for her, not even bothering to say goodbye.

He pulled out the little box from his pocket and looked at it. He had taken it with him and was practically guarding it with his life.

He had to, after seeing what was inside. 

When he had opened it in the room, he'd seen a small key, which appeared to have belonged to some sort of safe. He had thought it strange that Elysia was carrying a key to something she didn't have, when he noticed something white sticking up from one of the corners. It wasn't big enough to see right away, but if one looked close enough like he did, you could see that it was pressed against the side, trying to show itself against the black velvet lining.

He reached inside with his fingers and tried to pull whatever it was up. His eyes widened in surprise when the lining came up fairly easy around the white part. He put the key in his pocket as he pulled the rest of the lining up and revealed a small photgraph underneath it. 

He frowned and pulled the picture out, looking at it closely.

It was obviously Elysia in the picture, probably two or three years old. She was smiling happily and in the arms of an older woman. 

After closer examination, Theo realized that the woman was her mother. There wqs no doubt about it. Elysia looked exactly like her. 

He had put the picture and the key back in the box and shut it. This had to be something Elysia treasured. She had probably wanted to leave in a hurrywhen she came to the room to get her things and had forgotten that it was under her pillow. 

She should have this with her.

Theo looked up as the intercom went on overhead and announced that his shuttle was now loading. 

He looked back at the small box and put it back into his pocket. He'd take care of it for the rest of his life if he had to. 

~ ~ ~

A/N: Short, I know. Just had to have one of those moments where you want to yell at the people in the story for being the way they are. ^_^  



	20. Plans

An Orphan's Life

Disclaimer: For the 21st time, I do not own Gundam Wing!

~ ~ ~

Elysia stepped outside and closed her eyes as she breathed in deeply. 

She was only in space for a couple days, but she missed earth more than she thought she would.

She glanced back at Jade, who had a look of irritation on her face.

"You all right. Jade?"

Jade put her hands on her hips and looked to Elysia. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just really hate it here."

Elysia frowned and looked to the street, wondering why this bit of information wasn't handed out when they left the colony.

*_Doesn't somebody like to be on both the colonies and the earth? _* She picked up her bag and waited for Jade. *_I hope she's not like Theo or Caterina. _*

Jade walked over to her and crossed her arms. "Well?"

Elysia blinked. "Well, what?"

Jade raised an eyebrow. "Don't you have a place to stay?"

Elysia frowned. "No, I thought you had that part covered."

Jade sighed and shook her head. She motioned around. "It's the holiday season. Hotel rooms aren't exactly empty this time of year."

Elysia bit her lip as she tried to figure out what to do. 

She had completely forgotten that Christmas was near. Her mind was so jumbled with her trying to find her father that she had lost track of time.

Was her birthday really just a few days ago?

She shook her head and turned her attention back to the matter at hand.

"Couldn't we just walk around and sleep in an alley?"

Jade raised an eyebrow again. "You're not serious, are you?"

Elysia shrugged. "Well, an alley does sound nice and no one would bother us." 

Jade made a face and shook her head. "I'm calling my father." She reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone.

Elysia stared at her, somewhat confused. "Wait, don't you know people here?"

Jade paused for a minute ad looked up thoughtfully. "Well, besides where we're supposed to go… nope." She looked down and raised a finger to begin dialing.

Elysia grabbed the phone from Jade and held up her hands. "Hold on there. I've got a plan."

Jade, who was trying to get over the shock of Elysia's super-human speed, crossed her arms and nodded slowly for Elysia to go on.

"We'll just hang around for a while, then go see Duo. If we manage our time right, we'll pretend we have to go when it's really late. Hopefully, he'll be very hospitable and offer us a room to stay. And we, feeling too tired to drive, will graciously accept his offer."

Jade stared blankly at Elysia. "Three questions. What do we do while we 'hang around'?"

Elysia shrugged. "Walk around, shop… Ooh! We do need transportation, so we should probably go rent a car."  
Jade nodded slowly. "And where do we put our stuff?"

Elysia frowned. "Car?"

Jade nodded some more. "Okay… And, just out of curiosity, did this plan come from hanging around Caterina Winner?"

Elysia thought that over. "I think so…" She frowned slightly. "I don't think that's good."

Jade shrugged. "You came up with a decent plan, so it must be a good thing." She picked up her bags and started walking. "C'mon, we better get that car, before someone beats us to it."

Elysia nodded and followed.

Jennifer walked out of the hotel, deep in thought.

Caterina had told her Elysia would most likely be back on earth and in the Sank Kingdom.

It narrowed her search down pretty well, but she still had to figure out _where_ n the Sank Kingdom Elysia would be.

Caterina had suggested that Jennifer go see the circus, that a Cathy might be helpful.

This seemed to be a good idea to her, figuring that if she didn't find any leads, then at least she could enjoy being in a circus atmosphere again.

She walked around and eventually found the circus. She went through the front entrance and breathed in the familiar smell deeply. How she missed the circus.

As she paid the admission fee and walked in, she looked around slowly, trying to get a hold of herself. 

Her adoptive parents had never taken her to any kind of circus, no matter how much she cried to go. They just didn't understand.

She shook her head quickly and forced herself to focus on what she came here for. 

She had business to attend to. She needed to do that first, before she did anything else, no matter how strong the calling was of the potential fun she could have.

She wandered around the circus grounds, wondering how exactly she would find this Cathy. It seemed easy at first, but seeing the enormity of the circus pretty much showed how wrong she was.

Then, an idea hit her.

If she did something bad and got caught, she'd have to talk to the owner, or someone else who was in charge. The way Caterina spoke of Cathy seemed to Jennifer that she was someone of importance.

She looked around trying to figure out a good crime. 

It had to be something that would bring attention, but not too extreme as to lead to her getting arrested.

Her attention focused towards a tent, where a lion was roaring.

Setting an animal free would cause mayhem, but teasing it would cause it to make noises a trainer would know weren't right.

She smiled at her plan and walked over towards the tent.

This had to work.

Theo threw down his bag on his bed and stood silently, trying to gather his thoughts.

He knew his dad had seen his face when he got back from the colonies. Trowa had kept his distance, but it was only a matter of time, before he would come and ask what's wrong.

He wiped his face, wondering why on earth and the colonies he was getting so hung up on a girl that he had only known for less than three days.

Normally, he'd chalk it up to experience and carry on. But this time, he couldn't let go. Why was he feeling like this?

He sighed and decided to take his mood off of… _her. _ There was only one thing that could distract him.

It was good too, because he hadn't seen Tawny and Ricky in a long time, and it would make them happy to see him as well.

He walked out of his tent, glad to be back on earth and with his family.

Jennifer was beginning to see a flaw in her plan. 

The lion and tiger were asleep, and it looked like they weren't going to be up anytime soon. 

She kicked the bars in a feeble attempt to wake them up.

"Hey! Get up!" 

She kicked the bars a couple more times, before giving up, due to the pain in her foot. 

She gave a cry of frustration and crossed her arms. "You're ruining my plan, you stupid overgrown cat! You're supposed to get mad and roar, not lie around and sleep." She glared at the tiger. "And you. You're supposed to be the active one. Why are you sleeping too?"

The tiger opened her eyes sleepily and looked at Jennifer.

Jennifer smiled happily. ""Yes! You're awake! Now, start getting angry!"  
The tiger blinked a couple times, then let out a big yawn. She closed her eyes and went back to sleep.

Jennifer stared at her, then hung her head in defeat. "So much for my great plan. Now, what?"

"Hey! What the hell are you doing back there?! Damn it! Why does everybody always come in here?!"

Jennifer froze at the voice, not liking the angry tone.

She slowly turned around, trying to think of a good excuse. "Um, well…"

She trailed off when she recognized the owner of the voice. "Theo?"

Theo stopped in his tracks and stared at the girl standing in front of the cages. "Jennifer?"

Jade glanced over at Elysia. "So, what do we do now?"

Elysia shrugged from the passenger side of the van and opened the glove compartment. "You're the driver. You decide."

Jade sighed and looked out at the traffic. "I don't think it matters, because we'll kill a lot of time trying to get there." She thought a while. "Movies sound nice." She glanced over at a sign posted on a light pole. "Or, how 'bout the circus? That sounds fun." She looked back at Elysia. 

Elysia raised an eyebrow.

Jade turned her attention back to the road. "Or not."

There was an awkward silence. 

Then Jade asked," Want to talk about it?"

Elysia stared straight ahead and crossed her arms. "No, that's all right. There's nothing to talk about."

Jade studied her silently then nodded slowly. "Okay." 

They drove around in another awkward silence.

Finally, Jade looked to Elysia and gave a smile as she said, "How 'bout we shop then? I do need some shoes. And I haven't bought any presents yet for my family."

Elysia smiled back faintly. "I should buy something for Quatre and Trowa and your dad for helping me." *_Maybe Theo, Caterina, Jade and their siblings, too. *_

"Then, we're headed for the mall. That should keep us busy for a couple hours."

Jennifer stared at Theo in shock. It had been so long, since she had last seen him. It didn't occur to her that she would come across the same circus that her family had worked at many years ago.

She was so happy to see a familiar face that she forgot her wealthy upbringing and the brisk and proper manners she was taught, and ran to him, letting out a squeal of joy.

"Oh, my god! It's so great to see you! After everything happened, I didn't think I'd ever see you again!"

Theo hugged her back, but with less emotion. 

Although he was happy to see his childhood friend, he was still feeling a bit upset about Elysia.

He was so sure that the girl he saw by the cages was her. 

He took a good look at Jennifer and frowned. 

Had she always dressed so nicely? And what was with her hair? She had established long ago that she would never cut her long hair. It was above her shoulders now.

And it seemed like she was hiding something deep inside, an emotion of some sort. What happened to her, since she and her family disappeared that night?

"It's nice to see you too… What the hell are you doing here?"

Jennifer stepped back and gave a laugh." Geez, I almost forgot. I came to talk to a Cathy…"She trailed off as realization hit. "That's your aunt." She slapped her forehead. "Why didn't I catch it before? I'm so stupid. I mean, duh! How many circuses have a Cathy?"

Theo crossed his arms, getting slight déjà vu. "What do you want to ask my aunt?"

"Well, I'm trying to find someone I knew back when I was at the orphanage. I think I have something that she wants."

Theo stared at her blankly. "Orphanage?"

Jennifer nodded. "Maybe I should explain everything to you. But take me to your aunt. Better yet, take me to your dad first. It's been a long time since I've seen him. I wonder what he looks like now."

Theo frowned at that comment, starting to regret coming out to the cages.

~ ~ ~

A/N: …Yeah got nothing to comment on. Just R&R. ^_^


	21. Snow

An Orphan's Life

Disclaimer: For the 22nd time, I do not own Gundam Wing.

~ ~ ~

__

Jennifer woke up and strained her eyes to see in the dark tent. She had heard something outside, near her parents' tent. 

She sat up slowly in bed and looked to the crib where her baby sister, Sara, was sleeping soundly. She wrapped her blanket tightly around herself and tried to hear outside. 

She sat as quiet as she could for a couple minutes, then sighed. 

She was probably hearing things again. 

She was about to lie down when she saw her father walk in. She watched him as he walked quickly over to Sara's crib and pulled her out, wrapping another blanket around her. 

Her father must've been the noise she heard outside.

She frowned when she noticed he was getting her jacket and boots out of her closet. "What are you doing, daddy?"

He handed her the jacket and boots and adjusted the blanket around Sara. "Put these on. We're leaving."

Jennifer frowned as she put her jacket and boots on reluctantly. "Where are we going?"

Her father looked at her silently, obviously holding back on something. He held his hand out to her and said," Don't worry about that. If you're lucky, maybe heaven."

Jennifer frowned some more as she took his hand. Why would she want to go there right now?

They walked out of the tent, her father going a bit too fast. She gave one last look at her warm bed and tried to figure out what was going on.

Where were her mother and her brothers?

She looked up at her dad, who had a worried expression on his face. He seemed upset about something.

She struggled to keep up, the snow slowing her down considerably. 

She stared at the snow, silently yelling at it for making her cause her father not to go as fast as he pleased. She quickened her pace a bit, getting angrier at the snow that was up to her knees now.

She looked up at her father and held back her surprise at where they were. She hadn't realized they had walked into the woods. She looked to the sides, trying to figure out where exactly they were. 

Her father stopped walking and turned to the left, frowning in thought.

Jennifer watched him as he let go of her hand and shifted Sara to his other shoulder. Then he started walking again. Jennifer followed silently, not wanting to make a nuisance of herself.

Eventually, they came to a road. Her father stopped a few feet away from the edge.

Jennifer finally let her curiosity get the best of her. She looked up to her father and asked, "What are we doing here?"

"We're waiting for your mother."

Jennifer frowned and looked at the road. What the heck was going on?

They waited in silence as the sun began to rise. 

Jennifer looked up and watched it as it slowly came up above the trees. The sky looked so pretty with the snow all around.

A loud screeching noise brought her attention to the road. She frowned and watched as the screeching grew louder and closer. 

She looked to her father in confusion, who was frowning. His eyes were focused on the road.

A few minutes later, she saw their car, her mother behind the wheel. She backed up fearfully as she saw her mother turn a little too sharply on the curve and speed up closer towards them. 

That's when she noticed her brothers were in the back of the car glancing behind them, terrified. Jennifer followed their gaze and noticed the black cars.

Two of them were right behind her mom. 

Her eyes widened when she realized that the two cars were trying to ram her mom off the road. She gasped and looked at her father helplessly. 

He had a strange look on his face. Like he could see something that she couldn't. She looked to the other side of the road when there was another screech heard.

Her face fell when she saw another black car coming from the other side of the road. She stepped back some more and watched in horror as the black car rammed into her mother's car. 

The car spun out a bit then went careening to the side of the road where it hit some trees.

She started to lose feeling in her legs as she heard her father yell something. 

The three cars had stopped nearby and the passengers had gotten out. There were six of them, two from each. All were men, except one, who was flipping her hair over her shoulder and pulling out a gun. 

They walked over to the car just as her mother and three brothers stumbled out of the car. Her mother stifled a scream as she saw the people coming to them. She turned to Jennifer's brothers and said something to them that Jennifer couldn't hear. 

Jennifer watched as her brothers Nick and Joseph took off in different directions in the woods. Matthew stayed where he was.

He moved to their mom and held her as she was yelling at him. 

The woman who was in the car aimed the gun at them.

Then, Jennifer's mother noticed her and her father. 

She said it as loud as she could. "Run, Jennifer! Don't turn back! Go!"

Jennifer stood where she was reluctantly.

Her dad grabbed her hand, as the people from the cars looked at them. 

The woman looked to one of the men. "Go get them!"

Jennifer's father yanked her hand. She looked behind her as she began to run alongside her father, watching her mother and Matthew.

She faced forward just as two loud cracks were heard. 

She ran faster, not really understanding what was going on. But she knew that if those men caught up…

She tried to hold onto her father's hand, but was losing her grip, her fingers becoming numb from the cold. 

She gasped when she heard two more cracks somewhere behind her. She lost her footing and fell face first in the snow. She looked up quickly just in time to see her father disappear into the woods. 

She froze, not sure what to do. She was about to get up, when she saw the men cut across in front of her and run in the direction her father had just went. They didn't even see her.

She stayed where she was at, afraid to get up.

What should she do? 

Her dad and Sara must be pretty far now. And she can't go right after the men. They might see her.

She laid in the snow, trying to think of what to do.

The sun was to her left and still rising. They had come from that direction. 

Her mother had said not to look back. That translated to Jennifer to not go back at all. She had to go forward. Or somewhere else. Just not behind her.

She sighed and slowly got to her feet.

She needed to go.

She began walking, following the road that was on her left.

A few hours later, she came across some police cars that were parked in the middle of the road.

She paused for a second, wondering what they were doing. She shrugged and walked to them, knowing that they would help her find her family.

As she approached them, one of the officers glanced up and saw her. He looked to his partner and gave a whistle. "Look, we got a kid here.'

His partner frowned and looked at her, as she got closer. "You don't think that…?"

The officer turned towards Jennifer and gave a slight shrug. "Could be. She's by herself." He walked over to Jennifer.

She stopped and looked at the tall man in front of her. She squinted up at his badge that revealed the name Bradford.

He kneeled in front of her and smiled a little. "Hey, there."

Jennifer looked at him and said shyly," Hi."

He took off his jacket and wrapped it around her as he asked," Are you lost?"

Jennifer, who hadn't realized she was shivering, nodded. "My daddy and I were in the woods and we got separated."

Officer Bradford frowned at that. "You were in the woods?"

Jennifer nodded again. "We were running from some men who had guns."

Officer Bradford inhaled sharply and looked up to his partner. "Hey, Reese. I think she belongs to the John Doe."

Reese gave a loud sigh. "Great. Now, what do we tell her?"

Officer Bradford looked to Jennifer. "Can you come with me, sweetie?"

Jennifer nodded as he stood up. She took his hand as he walked her over to one of the parked cars. He lifted her up and sat her on top of the hood. "I need to ask you some questions, okay?"

Jennifer nodded some more.

"Can you tell me your name?"

"Jennifer Silverman." She looked to the side towards the woods. She frowned when she saw a bright yellow tarp covering something on the ground.

"Jennifer, do you know why you were running from those men?"

Jennifer shook her head then shrugged. "I think they were trying to hurt us." She tried to see what was under the tarp.

"Why do you say that?"

"They were hitting my mom's car and they had the guns." Jennifer made a face at how the officer didn't get it. She studied the ground around the tarp. The snow was red.

He studied her for a second, then asked," How many men were there?"

Jennifer turned her gaze to the officer and tried to remember. "Two were chasing us, and there were four others by my mom. One was a girl, though."

Officer Bradford looked to Reese. "You getting this?"

Reese nodded and held up a notebook.

Officer Bradford looked back to Jennifer. " Do you know where your mother's at?"

Jennifer frowned. "Over there," she said, pointing down the road. 

She looked back at the tarp and froze when she recognized her father's boot sticking out from under it. 

Officer Bradford looked to Reese and motioned to Jennifer. "Mind watching her while I go check this out?"

He nodded and walked over to Jennifer as his partner walked to the other police car and got in.

He gave a slight wave as Officer Bradford drove off.

Reese looked to Jennifer and gave a smile.

Jennifer smiled back faintly. What was up with these guys?

A few minutes later, two more police officers came out of the woods and walked up to where Reese and Jennifer were sitting. 

"We found nothing," one of them said.

The other frowned when he saw Jennifer. "What's with the kid?"

Reese shrugged. "She came out of the woods. Chris thinks she belongs to this guy." He motioned towards the tarp.

The two officers looked at each other, then Jennifer.

For what seemed like hours later, the officers had put Jennifer into the squad car and took her to the police station. There, they questioned her some more on what she was doing in the woods and where did she come from.

When they found out she was from the circus, they immediately tried to get a hold of Trowa and Catherine. 

For some reason, Jennifer was taken to the orphanage after all the calls were done. She never understood why. But she did as she was told.

She had promised her parents a long time ago that she would always be a good girl. 

~ ~ ~

A/N: … At this point I would like to establish that **I like flashing back**. Flashbacks are fun. You can say anything in them and it will always make sense. Heh… Any who, thanks to all of you people for reviewing. It makes me feel all cheesy and lame inside and I'm glad to know that there's at least three people who are reading this. That's pretty cool, considering my younger sister is the only one who usually reads these things. Well, thanks again and see you next chapter. ~_^


	22. Searching

An Orphan's Life

Disclaimer: For the 23rd time, I do not own Gundam Wing.

~ ~ ~

It was nearly 6 pm when Elysia and Jade had finished shopping. It felt too early for Elysia to go, but as Jade pointed out, it was probably because she was afraid.

After a while, Elysia looked to Jade and frowned when she noticed that Jade wasn't exactly dressed to visit an old family friend.

Elysia pointed to Jade's sweatpants and stared at her in confusion. "Why the heck are you wearing that?"

Jade yawned and shrugged. "Because it's comfortable."

Elysia grew more confused. "Aren't you going to get cold?"

"Nope."

"Well, you're going outside with me, right?"

"Nope."

Elysia's eyes widened. "Why not?"

Jade sat up in the driver's seat and began searching for the keys. "Because I'm not going with you."

Elysia gasped. "What?! But you have to!"  
Jade shook her head. "I just promised my dad to take you to Duo's house. I never said anything about getting out with you."

Elysia stared at her, starting to get a little panicky. "But I can't go in there alone!"

Jade shrugged. "You went to Trowa and Quatre alone. Why is this time any different?"

Elysia frowned at that, knowing Jade was right. "I don't know… I just thought you'd be there kind of as a back up… or something."

Jade found the keys and stuck them in the ignition. "Look, I'm sorry. I really am. I just can't go in with you."

Elysia stared at Jade, noticing the look in her eyes that showed she was hiding something. "Why not?"

Jade stared straight ahead and gripped the steering wheel tightly. "I just can't… Sit down, so I can drive."

Elysia made a face. "Not until you tell me why you won't get out with me."

Jade stared back, trying to scare Elysia. 

They looked at each other, both trying to win the staring contest. Neither one seemed to lose. 

After a good five minutes of nothing but silence, Jade sighed and looked down. 

"Fine, fine. I'll tell you."

Elysia smiled in triumph and crossed her arms. "Okay. Good."

Jade sighed again and focused on the steering wheel. "I used to date Duo's son."

Elysia blinked. "Huh? … What does that have to do with anything?"

Jade made a face and looked to her. "We were pretty serious in our relationship. Hell, we'd been together for practically most of our lives!"

Elysia raised an eyebrow. "So, you don't want to go, because…?"

"Because I hate him and I wish he were dead and I want nothing more to do with that insensitive, chauvinistic, arrogant, narcissistic, selfish, jerk!"

Elysia inched back in her seat at Jade's angry barrage of words. Whoever this guy was, he must've done something that really pissed her off.

She tried to find her voice, Jade's face kind of freaking her out. "So, um… You don't want to get out, because you don't want to risk seeing him." She rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "I'm guessing he dumped you."

Jade narrowed her eyes. "And why do you say that?"

Elysia shrugged. "Well, judging from your reaction…"

Jade glared at her and faced the front. "Just for your information, it was a mutual breakup." She crossed her arms. "And_ I_ brought the whole idea up."

Elysia shrugged again and put her seatbelt on. "Okay. Whatever you say."

Jade watched her, then shook her head huffily. 

How dare she bring up that wretched… _boy_! And then bring up the subject of who dumped whom! What did that have to do with anything?

Jade started the car and said nothing else. After a while, she stifled a giggle. She was beginning to like this girl.

~*~*~

Trowa stared at the girl in front of, his mind reeling from the story she had just told him.

He had always wondered what happened to her and her family that one night.

He wasn't the only person who had lost someone, he supposed. 

Everything had started to make sense to him.

Those men that came; they had wanted to get Jennifer's family. They had mistaken Trowa and his family for them. And after realizing that mistake, they left and went to find Jennifer's family.

And they did. They killed all of them, even the children.

Trowa remembered the day Jennifer's mother first came to the circus. 

-*-*-

__

Theo was just two years old. It was late at night. He was with Kate and his son in their tent, just enjoying being with each other.

He heard someone call his name from outside. He got up and went to see whom it was. 

He glared at the woman, recognizing her right away. "What do you want, Midii?"

Midii Une stared at him with a pleading look in her eyes. "Please, Trowa. I- we need your help." She motioned to her husband and three young children. She held a baby in her arms. 

Trowa continued glaring. "Who are you running from this time? What problems have you brought upon your family?"

Midii began to cry. "Please, Trowa. Believe me when I tell you that this has nothing to do with my past. These men… They're not just after me! They're trying to kill anybody related to-"

Trowa raised a hand for her to stop and went to go back inside the tent, "I don't have time for these lies."

Midii grabbed his arm, crying more. "Please! If not for me, then do it for my children. They don't deserve to die, because of who their blood belongs to!"

Trowa paused and looked at her, then looked back to the tent. Theo was running over to Kate, laughing happily. 

Trowa sighed, knowing that he wouldn't want anything to happen to his son. 

And as much as he was angry with Midii, it wasn't fair to her children to have to suffer from their parents' choices. And that baby in her arms was so small. She was truly innocent in all of this.

He couldn't turn them away. No matter what the risk was.

He looked to Midii and nodded a little. "Fine. You can stay with us. But don't think that I will help you with the past problems you have. You need to deal with those repercussions, not me."

Midii nodded, and gave a faint smile. "Don't worry about that. My hands are clean now… Thank you."

-*-*-

Trowa looked at Jennifer solemnly. That baby in Midii's arms was the only one left out of that family. She was left alone. And at such a young age.

Not realizing what he was doing, he reached out to Jennifer and gave her a hug.

He hadn't realized that bringing that family in would lead to the murder of his wife. But if he hadn't, the girl in his arms would've been dead along with the rest of them. 

It wasn't fair to lose Kate, his love, his joy. 

But he was glad that at least someone got to live, out of the choice he made.

Jennifer was hugging back, somewhat understanding what the meaning behind it was. She had missed the place she grew up in so bad; it was practically killing her inside from not being there.

But she was back. And she wouldn't do anything to jeopardize her chance to live with them again.

~*~*~

Jade and Elysia stared straight ahead, silently. They had been sitting in front of Duo's house for nearly twenty minutes now.

Jade sighed and looked to Elysia. "I think it's time."

Elysia nodded and took a couple of deep breaths. "I know." She opened the door and slowly got out.

* _Don't be scared, don't be scared, don't be scared… _*

She walked up to the porch, trying to figure out why she was nervous. She wasn't like this when she met Quatre, Trowa, and Wufei. Why should this time be any different?

* _Because this time you know that this guy is going to know where you're father's at. _*

She took another deep breath and knocked on the door.

~ ~ ~

A/N: Ooh! The suspense! … Well, there really isn't any suspense. Not that I know of… Well, R&R and see you next chapter. ~_^


	23. Found

An Orphan's Life

Disclaimer: People, people… If I owned Gundam Wing, Dorothy's eyebrows would not be the way they are.

~ ~ ~ 

"So, you managed to find Elysia's uncle…" Trowa stared at Jennifer as he tried to let everything she had just told him sink in.

Jennifer nodded. "My father helped me." She looked over at Theo. "Caterina did too. She was really into trying to find any information that we could. She wanted to help so badly."

Theo kept a blank face at hearing this.

So, Caterina was feeling guilty too. Elysia must've affected her more that he thought.

Trowa nodded a little. "And you want to know where she's at?"

Jennifer nodded.

Trowa looked at Theo silently, expecting him to say something.

Instead, he shrugged and walked over to answer the nearby phone that had started ringing. "Yeah, what?"

Trowa sighed and looked back to Jennifer. 

She pulled some papers from her purse and handed them to Trowa. "I figured any family is better than no family at all."

Trowa looked over the papers slowly.

"Dad!"

Trowa looked over to Theo, who looked excited. 

"Dad, it's Wufei. He knows where Elysia's at." He quickly handed the phone to Trowa and grabbed Jennifer by the hand. "C'mon!"

Jennifer's eyes widened as she was pulled at great speed. "Okay."

Trowa watched them leave, then slowly brought the phone to his ear. "Yeah, Wufei. He's gone."

~*~*~

Caterina drove around the Sank Kingdom, not really paying attention to where she was going.

Telling Jennifer where to go was good enough. Helping her get information was good too. She didn't have to go with Jennifer. She was fine at home on the colony. Going to earth was of no concern to Caterina Iria Winner.

Yet, here she was, driving and contemplating why she chose to get on the shuttle flight after Jennifer's.

Why was she feeling so guilty about wrecking a relationship that never really existed?

She'd never felt guilty before. In fact, she would've been shopping for Christmas presents, not even worrying about Elysia or that wretched lion tamer.

What was wrong with her?

As he slowed to stop at a red light, she sighed and looked at her watch.

It wasn't _that_ late. She still had time to go to Duo's house.

But why did she need to go to his house anyways?

It's not like he had anything she needed. And it'd be kind of weird to call it a visit, since she hadn't seen Duo since she was seven… Or maybe it was ten… 

She shook her head, trying to get her mind off her father's old friends.

She looked up as the light changed. She could continue driving around, thinking, or just go to Duo's house.

There was really no point in wasting gas, so…

As she began to pull forward, someone walked in front of the car.

She stepped on the brakes as fast as she could, but she still hit the person.

"Shit!" She got of the car and ran to check on the person. "You all right?"

"I just got hit by a car. What kind of idiot question is that?" The person stood up and glared at her.

He was a good foot and a half taller than he, and it seem to her that he wasn't hurt all that bad, judging by the muscles bulging out of his suit. He was also good-looking on her terms, slightly long blonde hair and the most gorgeous blue eyes she'd ever seen.

Then, she realized he'd indirectly called her an idiot.

Nobody, not even someone as hot as this guy, ever called Caterina Winner an idiot.

__

Nobody.

She took a step forward and gave him back one of her best glares. "Look, buddy. Be glad I even came out of my car. I could've just taken off and left you here to die."

The guy took a step forward as well and stared down at her. "I wouldn't have died, but I would've hunted you down and made you pay."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "For what? I didn't do anything wrong!"

He motioned at her car with his left hand. "Did you just forget that you hit me?"

She poked him in the chest. "Well, it seems to me that you aren't even hurt!"

He pointed to his right arm angrily. "You broke my arm!"

She glanced at his arm. "Where? I don't see anything wrong?"

"Just like you didn't see me!"

"Well, maybe if you wore brighter clothing, I would've seen you!"

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Well, maybe if you knew how to drive, I wouldn't have a broken arm!"

Caterina pushed him back slightly. "Maybe if you knew how to read traffic lights, you would've known to cross the street when the light wasn't green!" She flipped her hair over her shoulder and continued pushing him back. "If anything, I should be mad at you for putting a dent in my car, due to your stupidity."

He opened his mouth, but she cut him off.

"And don't think that you can sue me, just because your arm has a little crack in it. For all I know, you could've dove in front of my car on purpose."

He made a face at that statement. "You can't prove that." He thought a second, then added, "If it were true."

She raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure of that?"

They stared at each other silently for a couple minutes. 

Then he said, "Look, I just want to go on my way and get my arm fixed. I don't know what to do, since I've never been in a situation like this before."

"Well, neither have I." Caterina crossed her arms and tapped her foot as she thought. After a while, she sighed and looked at him. "I guess I'll take you to a hospital… Probably a drink afterwards."

He rolled his eyes. "Not only will I get in the car of the person who just hit me, but she'll be drunk as well."

Caterina opened the door on the driver's side and glared at him. "I said after I drop you off, I'd get drunk. "She motioned at the passenger side. "Get in."

He stared at her blankly for a while, then shrugged. "What have I got to lose?" He opened the door and sat down.

Caterina rolled her eyes and started the car. "By the way, my name is Caterina Winner."

He smiled as he buckled his seatbelt. "Caterina, huh?" He stuck out his left hand, since he couldn't really shake with his right. "Jacob Marquise."

Caterina shook his hand. "Nice to meet you."

~*~*~

Elysia stared at the door blankly as she waited.

Maybe nobody was home. Then again, it was a pretty big house. Maybe nobody heard her. Or they went to sleep early.

That was probably it.

And who was she to disturb these people? She should turn around and walk away from this place and pretend she never came.

The door opened, just as she was turning to leave.

An older woman with dark purple hair was staring back at her. "Yes?"

Elysia's eyes widened slightly as she faced the woman. "Oh, um… Hi… I'm here to see a, um, Mr. Maxwell."

The woman looked her over, then nodded. "I should've known."

She opened the door wider and turned to call up a large staircase. "Shane! There's a girl here to see you!" She looked back at Elysia. "C'mon inside, while he prepares himself to come down."

Elysia frowned and waved her hands around. "No, no. You must be mistaken. I'm here to see a_ Duo _Maxwell, not Shane." She paused and frowned some more. "Wait, I heard that name before." She blinked, then shook her head. "What I mean is-"

"Duo!" The woman yelled out towards a hallway this time.

Elysia stood silently, not knowing what to do.

Then, a familiar voice rang out from the stairs. "Mom, how many time have I told you to tell any girl that comes here that I'm dead?"

Elysia looked toward the stairs and gasped. "Shane?"

Shane blinked and looked at her. "Elysia?" He frowned in confusion. "How'd you find out where I lived?"

His mother crossed her arms. "So, you know each other?"

They nodded slowly as Shane walked down the stairs.

His mother blinked and looked at Elysia. "But I thought you were here to see Duo."

Elysia frowned slightly and nodded. She turned to face her. "Yeah, I am. You see, I'm looking for my father. He was an ex-gundam pilot and-"

She was cut off by the appearance of Duo, and his wife slapping him.

"You stupid cheater!"

Duo grabbed his cheek in pain and glared at her. "Geez, Hilde, what the hell was that for?!"

Elysia's eyes widened. "No! I didn't mean _he's_ my father." She gestured around lamely as she tried to find the right words. "I was told that Duo would know where my dad is at."

She looked to Shane for some sort of help, but he appeared to be holding back his laughter at the sight of his father in pain.

She sighed and looked back to Duo and Hilde. "I'm sorry to cause you trouble, but-"

"Elysia!"

Elysia frowned and looked back to the still open door, where a very cold Theo and Jennifer stood.

She hid back her surprise, and disappointment, at seeing them together. "What are you doing here?"

Theo held up his hands and motioned to Jennifer. "We, er, Jennifer…" He pushed Jennifer in front of him. "She has something to give you." He poked Jennifer, who smiled meekly and held up the papers.

"I located your uncle, because Caterina said you'd probably want to know where he's at."

Elysia closed her eyes and tried to let this process in her mind. "Wait… Caterina helped you find… my _uncle_?!"

Jennifer nodded. "Uh, huh." She frowned a little and looked at Theo, motioning to Elysia with her eyes. "Say something," she whispered to him.

Theo looked to Elysia, then quickly averted his eyes. 

Although he had sworn to himself that the next time he saw her, he would tell her how he felt, now was definitely _not_ the time to do it.

Elysia saw this and looked down a bit. 

Why was Theo not looking at her?

She bit her lip and tried to ignore the pain she was starting to feel inside. 

She looked at the papers and frowned slightly. 

The address was in the Sank Kingdom. So close to the orphanage…

She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, not wanting to get mad. 

There was a reason her uncle didn't want her. But did she really want to know what it was?

Theo watched as Elysia's face changed with all the emotions overcoming her. 

He wanted to hold her so bad and tell her that everything was going to be okay. He wanted to calm her down and try to get rid of that sadness that kept appearing in her eyes.

But he had to keep his distance. For the time being, anyways.

Jennifer cleared her throat a little and looked to where Duo, Hilde, and Shane were standing. 

She smiled slightly and stuck her hand out to Duo. "Um, sorry to barge into your house like this. My name is Jennifer Silverman and-"

"Silverman?" Duo shook her hand and looked her in the eyes for a few minutes. "Your father wasn't Dean Silverman, was he?"

Jennifer's eyes widened at the mention of her father's name. "Yeah, actually… How do you know him?"

Duo studied her for a second, and then shook his head. "We'll discuss that later. But first," he turned back to Elysia," we have to know what she's going to do."

Elysia blinked and looked up at him. "What do you mean?"

"Well, are you going to want to see your uncle first, or your father?"

Elysia stood silently and slowly looked to the papers in her hands. 

The whole point of her being at this house was to find out where her father was. The last week was spent trying to find father.

But now she knew where her uncle was.

Did she want to even see him?

She looked up at Duo, unsure of what to do. "I don't know."

~*~*~

A/N: And that was chapter…25. Although, it is probably 26 or 27 on the scroll thingy. Any who, I had to end it there, 'cuz this chapter dragged along a lot and just jumped from one thing to another. Sorry about that too, by the way. And, yes, I am aware that there's a possibility of a time discrepancy in this. I just figured it would really suck for everybody if Duo lived closer to where the circus was. And yes, I am also aware that update at weird and inconvenient times, sometimes every day, sometimes every other week. Sorry about that as well. It just always depends on what mood/day/whatever it is. And I've noticed that by doing my haphazard updating, I have gained new readers who review, but I have yet to see any of my old readers. Is that good? I feel kind of bad about that. Well, enough with my babbling, so R&R as usual and I'll see you next chapter. Bye. ~_^


	24. Choices

AN Orphan's Life

Disclaimer: Okay, if I owned Gundam Wing, Lady Une would've been slapped by Noin, Zechs wouldn't wear that damn mask helmet thing so much, Treize would've lived so he could be with his daughter, Trowa would remember everything, and Heero and Relena would not be acting the way they are in their relationship. So, as we can all see, I do not own Gundam Wing.

~ ~ ~

Elysia stared at the papers in her hands, trying to come to a decision.

Her uncle or her father?

Who did she want to see first?

She had never met her father or her uncle. 

Her mother had told her stories about her father. 

He was so strong and handsome and brave…

But her mother never told her about her uncle. Or that she even _had_ an uncle.

She had wanted to see her father for so long, ever since she little.

She was angry with her uncle. He had turned her away, knowing that she was blood, knowing that she was his sister's child. He didn't want her. He left her in that hellish orphanage and probably never even given her a second thought.

Elysia gripped the papers tightly as she started to grow angrier at each thought.

Why? 

Why didn't he want her? Why did he hate her? He _had_ to hate her, if he didn't want her. Why did he allow his niece to be taken away? Didn't he want to see her? Didn't he want something left of his dead sister to have?

Elysia looked to Duo and tried to calm down. "I want to see my uncle. I want to know why he didn't want me."

Duo crossed his arms and nodded. "Okay. Do you want your father's address right now?"

Elysia thought about this, and then shook her head. "No. I want to see him when I'm happy. And alone."

She looked at Theo, and then turned to Shane. "Can you come with me?"

Shane looked at Theo, who was trying to hold back some sort of emotion, then looked to Elysia. "If he and Jennifer comes too, " he answered pointing to them. 

Elysia nodded and looked back at the papers. "Fine. Whatever." She looked to Duo and froze, suddenly recognizing the man that stood in front of her.

He was…

She reached out to hold onto something, her legs starting to lose feeling.

Theo, having noticed her expression, ran over to her and held her just as her knees gave out.

"Elysia, what's wrong?"

She allowed Theo to hold her, not even realizing that he was panicking a bit, and pointed to Duo in shock. "H-he's… He's…" She tried to stand up, but couldn't. She looked to Jennifer for help.

Jennifer just frowned in confusion. She looked to Duo. Her eyes widened. "Oh, my god." She covered her mouth in surprise.

Theo looked at her, then Elysia in confusion. "What? What's going on?"

Elysia blinked a couple times, then managed to force out," He's the man that saved me that day…" She shook her head quickly. "My birthday…" 

She gave a sigh of relief when she began to get feeling in her legs. 

Shane frowned and looked to his father. "What is she talking about, dad?"

Duo, who had been trying to figure out what was wrong with the two girls, slowly nodded his head. "You were the little girl who almost drowned in the lake that day."

Elysia stood up a bit, but continued leaning against Theo. "Yeah… I never got to thank you for that. And all the gifts you sent me." She closed her eyes and tried to let this process all in her mind. 

She opened her eyes and looked around for something to focus her attention on. 

Again, she froze, this time her eyes falling upon an object up on the mantle of a fireplace in the adjacent room.

She slowly pulled away from Theo and walked over to the fireplace, her eyes never leaving the one object.

"My bear…"

She reached out and took it off the mantle, looking at it in shock. 

This was the bear that had been taken away from her when she was a scared young child. This was the bear her mother had given her, saying that her father had in turn given it to her as a birthday present. This was one of the last few things she'd had to remember her mother. 

This was the bear handed off to the owner of the orphanage as a gift.

The man who had saved her, who had given her some shred of hope when she cried at night in her room alone.

The man who was now helping her look for her father.

The nice man with the violet eyes…

Her eyes closed as she fainted for the second time that week.

~*~*~

Jade yawned and stretched out a bit in the driver seat. She had fallen asleep a few minutes after Elysia had left the van. 

How long ago was that?

She looked at her watch and frowned. 

What was taking Elysia so long?

She looked to the passenger side of the car when she heard a knock on the window.

She went to lower it down, when she recognized the face staring back at her.

"Oh, shit."

She narrowed her eyes and faced forward. She was _not_ going to talk to that asshole.

Shane began to bang on the window. 

Never in his wildest dreams did he ever think he would see _her_ sitting outside of his house in a van.

He had come out to tell whomever Elysia's companion was to come in since it was going to be a while before she went anywhere. 

But the sight of Jade Chang had shut down everything going on in his head.

Except for one thought.

And he needed to tell her what it was.

He banged on the window a little harder. "Jade! We need to talk!"

"Bite me, Maxwell!" The van started.

Shane paused, then ran in front of the van, arms outstretched to stop the van from going anywhere. "Jade, it's been too long. Let's work it out!"

"Screw you, you jerk!" The lights flashed on in a feeble attempt to blind him.

Shane slammed his hands on the hood of the van. "Damn it, Jade!" He stood still, trying to think of something to do.

The van moved forward a bit, then stopped an inch from him.

Jade stuck her head out the side window and flipped him off. "Damn it, Shane! Move!"

Shane stayed where he was at and smiled a bit. He always liked it when she tried to kill him. "No. I have to tell you something."

Jade glared at him. "What? That you love me?!"

Shane nodded and moved towards the driver side of the car. "Yeah."

Jade rolled her eyes and began to roll up the window. "Bullshit."

Shane ran to the side of the car and gripped the top of the window as it reached the halfway mar. "C'mon, Jade. Don't act like this. You know you missed me too."

Jade slapped at his hands, angry that he was there. "This is a rental. I am _not_ paying for anything you break." She paused when she realized what he said. "Wait… You missed me too?"

She looked him in the eyes.

He nodded slowly. "I've been going crazy not having you with me all the time. It was a stupid fight we had and I'm sorry for acting the way I did." He paused, then added," I love you."

Jade stared at him silently for a few minutes, then smiled. "Ha! So you admit it! I was right and you were wrong!"

Shane frowned. "Now, wait a sec. I didn't say _that._ I just said I was sorry."

Jade made a face and rolled her eyes again. "Well, I'm sorry too, but I'm not going to say you were right. Because you weren't."

Shane shrugged. "Fine. You don't have to say it. And I won't say you were wrong."

Jade stared ahead and crossed her arms. "Fine."

He watched her silently, then smiled some more. How he missed these fights with her.

He leaned in through the window and kissed her.

Jade's eyes widened, then they closed as she fell into the kiss.

After a while, Shane pulled away and smiled at her. "I missed you."

Jade raised an eyebrow. "You better have." She opened the door and moved to the passenger side of the car to allow him in. 

Shane smiled some more at this and climbed into the van.

He should've apologized a long time ago.

~*~*~

Elysia opened her eyes slowly as she heard someone calling her name. 

She fought back the feeling of déjà vu when she saw Theo staring back at her worriedly. 

She sat up and wiped her forehead, embarrassed that she had fainted again. She looked around and smiled faintly at Jennifer, Duo, and Hilde. "Sorry about that."

Jennifer waved a hand at her. "No problem. I don't blame you." She looked to Duo. "Meeting the guy responsible for the treatment we received at the orphanage would make anybody faint." She frowned. "I wonder why _I_ didn't faint…"

Elysia made a face at what Jennifer said. "What do you mean? He wasn't the one that beat us." 

Jennifer raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, but he was the one who hired those people."

Elysia frowned. "Jennifer, he probably didn't know that they were that way." She looked to Duo, who was frowning and rubbing his chin, deep in thought. "Right?"

Duo continued thinking, then sighed. He looked up at her. "All these years and I never knew what was going on right under my nose." He looked at Elysia. "How many times did they beat you?"

Elysia stared at him silently, not wanting to answer. * _Jennifer must've told him. How else would he know? _*

Duo nodded at her silence, the answer obvious. He bit his lip, and then looked to Hilde. "Where's Shane?"

Hilde smiled slightly. "He went to talk to Jade. They should be done making up right about now."

Duo made a face and shook his head. "That son of mine…" He looked to Jennifer. "When you all come back, I want to talk to you and Elysia about all of this."

Jennifer nodded and crossed her arms. "That's fine with me."

Elysia hugged her bear a little, not liking where this was going. 

She had never thought about talking to Duo about what went wrong in his orphanage. She didn't even want to talk about it. She wanted to forget the horrible place and move on.

She then remembered that she was supposed to go see her uncle. 

She sighed and was about to move, when she realized that Theo had never moved away from her and had been holding her hand the whole time she was conscious.

She hid back her surprise at his behavior and gently pulled away from him. 

Didn't he hate her? 

She looked down and stood up slowly. "C'mon. We got to go."

Theo stared at her silently and stood up. He looked to Duo and gave a slight wave. "Goodnight, Duo."

Duo did the same. "Are you coming back?"

Theo frowned and looked to Jennifer. 

She stood up and shrugged. "I want to talk to him. I don't really care. Whatever's convenient for him."

Theo looked to Elysia, then back at Duo. "I guess… We'll have to talk this out in the car."

Duo nodded. "All right." 

~*~*~

The drive was long and awkward.

Shane and Jade hadn't spoken a word, since Theo, Elysia, and Jennifer hadn't talked. They were quiet the whole time they'd been together.

Which was bugging Shane really bad, because he wasn't one for being quiet. He looked uncomfortably to Jade, hoping she would comment first. He was getting close to saying the first thing that popped into his mind. Which was _never _a good thing.

Jade glanced at him and made a face, knowing that he was ready to explode with some idiot comment. She narrowed her eyes at him and slowly shook her head, mouthing the word "no".

Shane bit down on his lip and looked away from Jade. She was no help whatsoever.

He tried to restrain himself as much as he could, but the lack of conversation was taking its toll.

He looked back at the others, who were shoved together in the middle seat.

Jennifer was fighting off the sleep demon that was all over her and Theo was trying to contain his emotions, which he wasn't really succeeding at.

Shane sighed, sensing the tension between Elysia ad Theo.

He had figured out that Theo was the guy Elysia had been crying over the night he met her. What he didn't understand was why she said he didn't share the same feelings she was having. It was obvious he was in love with her.

Why the heck couldn't she see that?

Shane looked to Elysia, who was sitting behind Jade and staring out the window blankly. He wasn't sure what to say to her at this point, only because she hadn't said anything except one-worded statements. 

He wanted to beat her up for being so dense. In a brotherly way. But he wasn't sure if she was blind to Theo's feelings because she was so preoccupied with her search for her father or because there was something else he didn't know about. Either way, it was getting on his nerves and if nobody was going to say anything, the _he'd_ have to.

He crossed his arms and nodded. Yeah. That's what he'll do. Right now.

He turned and opened his mouth.

"We're here," Jade said, interrupting him.

Shane shut his mouth and looked to her angrily, even though she wasn't even looking at him. He made a face and faced forward, silently pouting.

She took off her seatbelt and turned to face Elysia. "Do you want me to come out with you?"

Elysia blinked and slowly looked to her, starting to comprehend everything. She bit her lip in concentration and looked at her bear that she hadn't let go of. She thought a while, then looked up. "No, that's okay. If it's all right with you," she looked to Jennifer," I'd kind of like for _her_ to come with me. She has experience in this area."

Jade nodded and smiled faintly. "Whatever you're comfortable with." She looked to Shane and noticed his expression. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Shane glared at her and said nothing.

She rolled her eyes and looked at Theo. "Hey, so are you going out with her?" 

Shane grimaced at the question, knowing that he wasn't the only one who caught the other meaning of it. He rubbed his forehead and put a hand on Jade's shoulder. "Good one, Chang."

Jade raised an eyebrow, not getting what he meant. She's noticed everybody had flinched at her question, but she didn't know why. "What? What'd I do?"

Shane just shook his head. "Never mind, my dear."

Jade stared at him in confusion, her eyes narrowed a bit. "And_ that's_ why I hate you."

Theo sighed and glanced to Elysia. "If it's all right with her…"

Elysia opened the door and shrugged, not wanting to show that she was somewhat happy that he cared about what she wanted. "Well, then, c'mon."

She didn't really care who came with her. She came to talk to her uncle. 

She wanted to know. She _had _to know.

She marched up to the front door, a new sense of courage overcoming her. 

She didn't care if he hated her. She didn't care if he got mad at seeing her. 

She just wanted to give him a piece of her mind. 

And maybe get a few hits in.

She knocked on the door as hard as she could, hoping the loudness would piss him off.

She was starting to like this new feeling. 

~ ~ ~ 

A/N: Wow, this was a long chap. Sorry. Had to end it there. Got to keep you all wanting more and have you come crawling back. Hehehe… And I've realized I had to change the rating on this thing, since I've been making everybody cuss a lot. I should probably stop doing that. Any who, R&R and make me _want _to update and I'll see you next chapter. Good-bye! ~_^


	25. Cousins

An Orphan's Life

Disclaimer: Once again, if I owned Gundam Wing, Hilde would be with Duo all the time, Noin and Zechs would not be so darned platonic, Catherine wouldn't make so much soup, and Wufei would be an all right guy and not so serious all the time. So, we can all see that none of this has happened, which means I do not own it!

~ ~ ~

Caterina sighed when Jade didn't answer her phone again. What the heck was keeping her so busy?

"Give it up, girl. They're not going to answer."

Caterina smiled and turned over in the bed to look at Jacob. 

After leaving the hospital and having a couple of drinks at a nearby bar, Jacob had invited her over to his house. 

Caterina never missed an opportunity to have fun and she wasn't about to let this one slip through her fingers.

Especially when he mentioned that his parents were out of town and that his little sister avoided all contact with him when they're alone together in the giant mansion.

Oh, no, Caterina knew a good time when she saw it coming. And this was _definitely _a good time. 

She poked him playfully and moved closer to him, pulling the bed sheets with her. "Why do you care? It's not like you're paying for the bill or anything."

He smiled at her and pulled her in for a kiss. "I care, because you're attention is not on me."

Caterina smirked at that comment and shook her head. "Idiot. You know I don't pay attention to anybody, except myself."

He laughed and wrapped his arms around her. "Ah, there' my selfish girl. How I love her."

Caterina smiled and snuggled into his chest. She bit back a feeling of guilt and looked up at him seriously. "I don't want to come off all weird and ungrateful and everything, but don't you think we're moving too fast?"

Jacob frowned and looked down at her in confusion. "Really? You think so? What makes you say that?"

Caterina motioned at their clothes that were thrown on the floor haphazardly and the way they were lying in his bed with only the blankets to cover their lack of said clothing.

He blinked, then shrugged. ""You weren't complaining a few minutes ago," he said, nibbling at her right earlobe.

Caterina blushed (A/N: *GASP*!_) _and played with his hair. "Or the time before that," she added, hoping to make him blush too.

If he did, he hid it well. He laughed some more at her comment and hugged her close to him. "Or the time before _that._" He laughed when he saw her turn more red. 

Jacob two, Caterina zero.

He brushed a stray hair from her face and leaned in toward her ear. "Why are you blushing? There's nothing to be embarrassed about. Not like you haven't done it before."

Caterina smiled and shrugged a little. "Maybe 'cuz I haven't done it before with a guy I actually liked… Well, you know, the whole passion thing and …feelings and such." 

Starting to feel uncomfortable with the whole situation, mainly because she kept thinking of what her father's face would look like if he ever found out his precious little girl did what she had just done, she sat up and sighed. 

Jacob frowned at her sudden change of mood, but said nothing. He sat up as well and began to look for his boxers. (A/N: O^_^O *BLUSH*)

Caterina watched him move around, wishing she wasn't feeling so guilty. This guy was so damn hot it was killing her not to be close to him anymore. 

She rubbed her forehead, mentally kicking herself for drinking a lot again. That's probably what added to her being so wild tonight. Her mother would _not _be happy if she found out she drank more than she was supposed to. 

Again.

On the plus side, she didn't think about Elysia or Theo or Jennifer at all throughout the entire night. She had done pretty well forgetting about them.

But when she remembered why she came to the Sank Kingdom, she immediately tried to contact Jade.

Jade never answered, but there was this one time where somebody picked up the phone. However, when Caterina tried to talk to whoever it was, the only reply she got back was something that sounded like groaning and heavy breathing. 

And she did _not_ want to think about who it was or what was causing it.

She sighed again. 

What was she going to do for the rest of the night?

She looked up at Jacob when a loud banging noise was heard somewhere off in the house.

Jacob frowned and looked back at her slowly. "Is someone at the door?"

Caterina shrugged and began to look for her underwear. "How should I know? This is my first time here."

Jacob made a face and shook his head. "I think someone's here." He found his boxers and slipped them on as he walked over to his door and opened it. "Lisette! Get the damn door!"

"Get it yourself!" came the reply from somewhere upstairs.

Jacob sighed and looked to Caterina apologetically. "I have to get the door. I'll be right back."

Caterina paused in her getting dressed routine and nodded. "Okay. I'll meet you out there."

Jacob nodded and smiled at her. He ran over to her and gave her one last passionate kiss before walking out of his room.

This had better be good.

~*~*~

Elysia glared at the front door and pounded harder on it. "Open up, damn it!"

Jennifer raised an eyebrow at her fellow orphan's behavior and glanced over at Theo.

He looked to be in a state of shock at how Elysia was acting. He stared back at Jennifer, a look of concern on his face.

Elysia pounded some more. "Damn it! He knew I was coming! He somehow knew!"

Theo couldn't take it any more. He grabbed her hands, before she could inflict any more damage upon the poor door and tried to pull her back. "Sweetie, stop with the knocking. You're going to hurt yourself. "

Jennifer nodded and laid a hand on Elysia's shoulder to calm her down. "Someone's probably already on their way down. Banging on the door will only frighten them off."

Elysia took a deep breath and let it out slowly as an attempt to contain her anger. She kicked the door a couple of times for good measure. "Bastards!"

Theo sighed and tried to hold her down as she went to kick the door again.

Luckily for him, the door swung open.

They looked up expectantly at whoever it was, Elysia ready to pounce and beat the poor soul up.

She paused when she saw a blonde girl who appeared younger than her staring back at them.

Elysia slowly pulled away from Theo, her anger melting away quickly. "Um… hi."

The girl frowned and held onto the door. "Hi."

Elysia frowned as well, not knowing what to do. She had expected to see some middle aged man to open the door and she in turn punching him in the face. This girl really threw her off.

She took a step forward and gestured around with her hands. "Okay, I'm sorry. I came here to go beat- er, _talk _to someone. And you're not him..." She turned around, mad that she embarrassed herself the one time she wasn't afraid to meet someone.

"Wait." The girl stepped out onto the porch and grabbed Elysia by the arm. "I'm supposed to know you, aren't I?"

Elysia turned back to face the girl and frowned. "I think so…"

The girl studied Elysia, then gasped. She let go of her arm and held onto the wall for support. "Aunt Relena…She…I… Y-you're my cousin!"

Elysia's eyes widened a bit as this sunk in. 

She mentally slapped herself for not even thinking about the fact that her uncle had to have had children.

The officer had told her he was married.

Elysia closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. "Oh, well _this_ helps my plan to kill him," she said sarcastically to herself.

At that moment, a tall blonde guy came strolling towards them from up a hallway. He frowned at the group in front of him and tapped the girl angrily. 

"Damn it, Lisette. You said you weren't going to get the door!"

The girl glared at him and motioned at Elysia. "Well, I knew you were going to take a long time to do it, since you came in with that bimbo earlier, so I decided to come down instead. And anyways, Jacob, did you not notice I am having a moment right now?!"

Jacob glared at her some more. "Why do you do this to me?" He looked at the three frozen teens on the porch. "Who the hell are you?"

Elysia was just finished processing the fact that this guy was her cousin as well, when Caterina came walking up from the same place he had appeared with a white bed sheet wrapped around her. "Jacob, who is it?" She paused in her steps when she saw who was there.

Elysia froze as Theo made a face at Caterina's appearance. Jennifer was also struggling to grasp the concept that her older friend was practically naked.

Her mouth fell open as she pointed to the bed sheet. "W-w-what…" she sputtered. She looked to Theo and Elysia for help.

Elysia pointed to Caterina slowly, her eyes wide. "Y-you…"

Lisette turned to get a good look at Caterina and gasped. She slapped Jacob upside the head. "You moron! You're screwing a _Winner_?!"

Jacob frowned, not even acknowledging the pain was feeling, and looked at Caterina in confusion. "What's wrong with that?"

Elysia blinked a couple times, then managed to yell at Caterina," You're screwing my _cousin_?!"

Caterina blinked, then looked to Jacob on shock. "_He's _your cousin?!"

Jacob looked to Elysia quickly. "Cousin?! You're my _cousin_?!"

Lisette waved her hands around a bit. "All right, I think we all need to calm down." She took a deep breath and looked at Elysia. "How old are you?"

Elysia tore her gaze from Caterina and looked to Lisette. "I just turned eighteen."

Lisette nodded and looked at Jacob. "Well, that explains why _I _don't remember her."

Jacob stared at her. "So, what? _I'm_ supposed to be the one remembering her?!"  
Lisette glared at him. "Well, you _are_ five years older than her. You should have some kind of memory of a cousin."

Jacob glared at her, then looked to Elysia. "No. This can't be right. Aunt Relena never had a kid."

Elysia narrowed her eyes at him. "Well, surprise, surprise."

"Wait a second," Caterina said, walking over to their, waving her hands. "Jacob told me his last name was Marquise." She pointed to Elysia. "Wasn't your mother's last name Peacecraft?"

Elysia nodded slowly.

Caterina looked at Jacob. "Well, then you can't be cousins."

Lisette smirked and walked over to Caterina. "Oh, so you fell for that one, eh?"

Caterina looked at the younger girl in confusion. "Huh?"

Lisette shook her head and motioned at her brother who was looking around casually. "Well, you see, ol' Jakey here has a thing where he likes to give a fake name to whatever girl he happens to be hitting on. He likes to use our dad's old code names."

Caterina took this in, and then turned to glare at Jacob. "You lied to me?!"

Jacob raised his hands in surrender. "Sorry. I didn't mean to."

Caterina went to hit him, then sighed and kissed him instead. "Aw, I can't stay mad at you."

Jacob smiled at her and pulled her closer to him as they began to make out right there.

Theo pointed at them in disgust and tried to cover his eyes. "Oh, this is pure torture."

Lisette grabbed Elysia's hand and pulled her inside, steering off in a different direction then her brother. "C'mon. We have a lot to talk about."

Elysia nodded and followed, trying to ignore the gross display of PDA behind her.

~ ~ ~ 

A/N: … That was the dirtiest chapter I have ever written. Sorry if I nauseated any of you. I don't know what the hell is wrong with Caterina. I just figured she'd be the one who'd change the most out of everybody. On a lighter note, YAY! I broke 100 reviews. You people make me so happy. ^_^ Any who, R&R and I'll see you next chapter. ~_^


	26. Ride

AN Orphan's Life

Disclaimer: If I owned Gundam Wing, there' d be more episodes with Zechs and Noin laughing at how stupid Lady Une is and how they will one day destroy her in an elaborately set plan that would make her death look like a freak accident. . *Cough* .So, since that hasn't happened, I do not own Gundam Wing.

~ ~ ~

Elysia glanced around the packed van and held back a smile. Her newfound cousins were sitting next to her newfound friends. 

She couldn't believe that there were two people who were actually related to her in the van. People who were family. 

This was really throwing her whole plan off.

She sighed and looked out the window, watching the snow as it fell.

Everything was happening so fast.

During the talk she had with her seventeen-year-old cousin, a few things had come up.

One being that they, Jacob and Lisette, had never known that they had a cousin. Their parents had never told them about her. 

To which Lisette became very peeved about, figuring that there was a mass cover-up and that she would get to the bottom of it. 

This was why they were in the van, going to the top-secret base that her father ran, expecting to get some more information about everything that happened since they were born.

She was thoroughly pissed at her father for never telling her about Elysia.

Which was a comfort to Elysia, since she realized that she wasn't the only one who was angry.

She was starting to adore her younger cousin.

Something else that came up, much to Elysia's dsappointment, was that her Uncle Zechs and her Aunt Noin were off in Italy, visting Lisette and Jacob's grandparents. They wouldn't be back for a few more days.

Another thing that came up during the conversation was the fact that there was indeed some sort of conspiracy going on among the former gundam pilots and their respected colleagues.

It was up to the eight people in the car to figure out just what exactly that conspiracy was.

Elysia sighed again, realizing that when she finally got to meet her father, there was still going to be a lot of things that would have to be sorted out. She was beginning to wonder if she should even bother trying to figure out all of this stuff. 

All she wanted was her mother, and then her father. There was no need to go digging up old conspiracies and secrets.

"Elysia?"

Elysia looked back to her traveling companions and turned to Theo sitting next to her, who had called her name. "Yeah?"

He looked down slightly as he talked to her. "I, um… found this," he pulled out something from his jacket and held it up for her to see," in the hotel room after you left. I figured it was important, so I kind of held it for you." He placed it in her hands quickly and looked away to hide the blush that was creeping up his face for some odd reason.

Elysia frowned a little and looked at what he handed her. Her eyes widened when she realized it was her little box. "Oh, my god! I can't believe I left this!" Without even thinking about what she was doing, she kissed Theo on the cheek and gave him a hug. "Thank you so much! I don't what I would've done if I had l lost it!"

Theo's eyes widened as his hand slowly went up to the cheek she had just touched with her beautiful lips. 

"What's got you so happy, El?" Shane asked from the front passenger seat.

Elysia leaned forward happily and waved the box at him. "I just got back something really important to me!"

Shane turned to look at her better. "Really? What is it?"

Elysia opened the box happily and pulled the key out. "My mother gave me this the night before she died. She said it was very important that I keep it." She frowned a little when she saw the picture in the box. 

Where the heck did that come from?

She pulled it out to get a better look while Shane asked," What does it go to?"

Elysia studied the picture and answered slowly," I don't know…" She looked at Theo. "Where did you get this?"

Theo frowned a little. "The picture? It was underneath that velvet stuff." He frowned some more. "Why?"

Elysia looked back at the picture and stared at her mother's face. "I never saw it in there." 

Lisette turned around from her spot in the middle of the seat in front of Elysia and looked at her. "Can I see that key real quick?"

Elysia nodded and handed her the key, not taking her gaze off of the picture.

All these years she'd had the box and she never noticed the picture underneath it. 

She smiled slightly at the image in front of her, recognizing it as the time she, her mother, and Pargan went out on a picnic in front of their house. They had been sitting under her favorite tree and Pargan had pulled out a camera, snapping pictures of them the whole time they ate.

She held back the tears that sprang to her eyes at the thought of Pargan. 

Where was he now? Was he even alive still?

She turned the picture over and frowned when she saw some numbers written on the back. "What the…?"

"Aha! I knew it!"

Everybody jumped at Lisette's cry of triumph.

Jennifer glared at the girl who had woken her up from a nice sleep and asked crankily," Knew what?"

Lisette looked to Jacob excitedly. "Jacob, look at this key and tell me what you see."

Jacob took the key from his sister and stared at it annoyed. "Rust?"

Lisette made a face and snatched it away from him, looking to Elysia as she explained. "At the base, there's a bunch of lockers and safety deposit boxes and such. They remodeled the entire building a few years back, but they kept all the older ones on the lower floor."

Elysia frowned at her cousin. "What are you trying to say?"

Lisette handed her the key. "I recognized this key as belonging to one of the older lockers." She smiled a bit, half out of triumph, half out of what the thought was. "If your mother gave this to you before she died, then that means she had to have put something _in_ the locker. Something you probably want." She looked to Jacob happily. "Don't you get it? Aunt Relena put something away in dad's base lockers, because the base is the most secure area in the world! She _knew_ something was up!"

Jacob stared at his younger sister blankly, then shook his head. "Moron. Are you trying to tell me that Aunt Relena knew she was going to die?"

Lisette frowned slightly and gave a shrug. "I don't know about _that_, exactly, But it sure makes a lot of sense to me." She looked around at the others for help. "Right?"

They all glanced at each other uneasily. 

Elysia did not like where everything was leading.

She looked to Lisette and showed her the back of the picture. "So, do these old lockers have a combination or something? Because I have no idea what these numbers could mean."

Lisette looked at the numbers scrawled in her aunt's beautiful handwriting and nodded. "Yeah, they do. This must be it."

Elysia nodded and looked at the picture again. Things were starting to click.

She looked back to Lisette. "So, what are we going to do once we get to the base?"

Lisette looked at the others as she said," Well, I guess we'll take you to the lockers, first. You probably don't want a big group going with you, so Jacob and I will go to the computer room to access the databases for something about this giant conspiracy floating around." She looked at her brother. "Unless you want to go alone. Maybe take Ms. Winner with you. Shane and Jade, too, since you're about in the same age group."

Jacob glared at her. "Wait, who died and made you in charge of operations? _I'm _the oldest one here!"  
Lisette glared back. "Well, you haven't said one damn word about anything, except when you're mocking me. And I haven't heard anybody complain yet, so don't get mad at me!"

Elysia raised her eyebrows at her cousins who launched into another fight. Did they ever get along?

She looked to her right at Theo who was falling asleep. She nudged him with her elbow. "Hey! How can you be tired?"

He opened his eyes slightly and looked at her. "It's late."

Elysia frowned, then shook her head. "it's not that late."

"It's eleven."

Elysa blinked, then nudged him again. "Well stay awake. I want you to go with me when I check out this locker thing."

Theo woke up all the way at that comment. He looked at her in surprise. "Why? I thought…" He trailed off, realizing he had just come close to asking something he didn't want to ask in front of an audience. He was not going to express his feelings in front of Shane. He was such an ass.

He took a deep breath and tired to think of something else to say. "I figured you'd want Jennifer or your cousins to go with you."

Elysia bit her lip in thought and shrugged a bit. "Well, I figured you, because you've been with me throughout this whole week. I… guess I wanted someone I am somewhat close to with me when I discover what it is my mother put in that locker."

Theo, who had been put into temporary shock at her admitting she felt closer to him than anybody else in the van, nodded slowly. "Oh, okay." He smiled at her and gave her hand a squeeze, to which _she_ went into a temporary shock.

Why the heck was he being so damn nice and… weird lately?

She shrugged this off and went on to think about what the heck it was that her mother had hidden away at her uncle's base.

~*~*~

Eventually, they came to the base. 

It didn't seem all that top secret and special as her cousin had said it would be, but then again, Elysia figured, maybe it was because of the fact that the base _didn't_ try to stand out that made it a secret to begin with.

Whatever it was, the entrance to the place wasn't all that hard to go through. 

Jacob and Jade had to switch seats, so that he could flash his I.d. badge to the guards, but that was all the security measures the place took.

Elysia was beginning to wonder if this was even a government base. 

Shouldn't there be armed guards walking the perimeter or something? Or metal detectors? Or at least one guy wearing a black suit talking into an earpiece?

As they walked through the entrance, Jacob stopped and looked to his sister. "So, who's going where?"

Lisette glanced at Elysia expectantly. "Well, it depends on who she wants with her."

Elysia froze, not likening that she had been put on the spot, and thought a bit. "Well, why don't you take me to the lockers, and then you can go with Jacob to the computers like you said earlier?"

Lisette shrugged and nodded, looking back at Jacob. "Okay. That makes sense. We could probably get to the rooms faster anyways, if we don't have extra people tagging along." She glanced at Caterina with that statement. 

Caterina didn't even notice, she too busy kissing Jacob.

Lisette stared at them in disgust and started walking away down one of the many hallways. "Follow me this way, guys."

Theo and Elysia walked after her as fast as they could.

Jennifer watched Jacob and Caterina for a couple minutes, then shook her. "Way too much for me to see."

Shane watched the two as they continued to make out.

Jade sighed and grabbed him by his ear and lead him away. "You are such a pervert."

~*~*~

Lisette stopped and gave a sigh. "We're here."

Elysia stopped walking and frowned. "There are only elevators."

Lisette nodded. "Well, yeah. The older lockers are below us." She looked to the doors, then slapped her forehead. "Shoot! I forgot. Only two people can go down there at a time."

Jennifer crossed her arms and frowned. "Why?"

Lisette looked at her, getting a bit annoyed by the green-eyed girl. "The lockers down there mostly belong to people of status from back in the day. There were a lot of secrets and covert operations going on."

Jennifer made a face. "So, what does that have to do with anything?"

Lisette rubbed her forehead, a headache starting. "There are things down there that could change the world, if not the whole galaxy. If someone were to get hold of that stuff, it could be the end of everything we know."

Jennifer narrowed her eyes at the younger girl. "Okay, but why is it that only two people can go down there?"

Lisette sighed. "Because then, there's someone else down there to keep the other person in check and make sure that he or she doesn't take what shouldn't be taken." She walked over to Elysia. "And really, I'm breaking a rule here. Every person who goes down there is supposed to be accompanied by a base agent." She smiled faintly at her. "But I guess we can make an exception here. You probably don't want someone you just met with you when you open that thing." She held out her hand. "Let me have your key."

Elysia smiled back and handed the key to her.

Lisette walked over to the elevator and opened a little door that was underneath the floor number buttons. She stuck the key inside a hole, to which the elevator doors opened.

She looked back at Elysia. "Go on inside. I'm going to type in my password, so you should be able to go through the rest of the way with no problems." She looked over to Theo. "And you better hurry up if you want to go with her."

Theo frowned at her as he walked over to the elevator. 

* _Geez, this girl is pretty bossy for her age. _*

Elysia stepped inside the elevator and stood next to Theo uncertainly. This whole secret business was staring to freak her out.

Lisette pulled out the key and handed it to Elysia. She waved at her as the doors closed. "Good luck."

~ ~ ~

A/N: … Wow. That was boring. Did it make any sense to you? Well, whatever. Just R&R and I'll see you next chapter. ~_^


	27. Close

An Orphan's Life

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is not mine, because I'm too young to have actually made it.

~ ~ ~

Elysia and Theo stood silently in the elevator as it slowly made it's descent to the old lockers.

Elysia tapped her hands against her legs absentmindedly and tried not to look at Theo.

Theo was staring off into space, wondering why the heck the damn elevator was taking so long to go down one floor. 

He glanced at Elysia and watched her movements. * _She must be nervous. _* He sighed, remembering what he had sworn to himself just the night before. 

There was nobody else around to witness anything he should say. Or any rejection he might receive. But should he do it now?

He thought this over for a couple of minutes, then decided that if he didn't say anything now, then he'd probably never get the chance to do it again.

He turned to Elysia and opened his mouth.

The elevator chose that moment to stop and open it's doors. 

Elysia stepped out, not even noticing that Theo was about to say something.

Theo sighed and walked out slowly, knowing that he had blown his only chance.

~*~*~

Jennifer crossed her arms and looked to the other single girl in the hallway.

Jacob has taken off with Caterina, supposedly heading towards the computer room.

Lisette and Jennifer knew better.

Then, Shane had announced he had to go to the bathroom, to which Jade said the same. They left in the same direction, even though they had never been in the base before and Lisette hadn't really given them directions.

Lisette grew annoyed with the way her elders were acting, praying that she would never turn into a sex crazed maniac like they had.

Jennifer bit her lip and tapped her elbows impatiently. They had to stay and wait for Elysia and Theo to come back, since everybody else had left. Then, she and Lisette could go to the computer room, since Jacob and Caterina were obviously not going to find anything.

She stared at Lisette, wondering how the heck a girl her age could be so controlling. She, though, wasn't about to let some seventeen year old tell her what to do. 

Jennifer Silverman answered to nobody.

She sighed, getting bored. 

She knew she would have to make conversation with the girl eventually. She may as well do it now.

She stared at the elevator doors and asked," So, what exactly do your parents do?"

Lisette raised an eyebrow at Jennifer, wondering why she was talking to her. 

She knew Jennifer didn't like her. * _What's with the attempt at small talk?_ * She shrugged a bit and answered out of politeness. "They run the base and keep track of any problems that arise among the people of earth and the colonies." 

Jennifer frowned at that. "Like secret groups out to kill world leaders?"

Lisette nodded. "Yeah, that too."

Jennifer looked at her for a second, then turned her gaze back to the elevator doors. "Elysia's mother was assassinated, wasn't she?"

Lisette frowned and looked to Jennifer. "Yeah… What are you getting at?"

Jennifer shrugged. "Well, I just find it weird that the person whose job it is to divert assassination attempts, couldn't even stop the one against his own sister."

Lisette stared at Jennifer, blankly, but said nothing when she realized that the older girl had a point. 

Trying to avoid a fight, she sighed and focused on the doors as well, asking coolly," Well, what do _your_ parents do?"

"They're dead."

Lisette's eyes widened slightly. She looked to Jennifer to see if she was lying.

Jennifer was staring at the doors blankly.

Lisette blinked, then looked back at the doors. "Oh." She made a face as she realized she was beginning to feel sorry for Jennifer.

Jennifer must've sensed this, because she then said," Don't pity me. It happened a long time ago, so it's not as painful as it used to be." She looked down slightly, knowing she was semi-lying at the last part.

Lisette nodded and stared straight ahead. "Okay."

Jennifer glanced at her and sighed. This was not going well. Elysia and Theo had better hurry up.

~*~*~

Elysia wandered down the long hallway, trying to find locker number 347 A. She sighed as she came to the 201 B.

No wonder the base was remodeled. Whoever had designed the locker area really screwed up. The first lockers you saw as you got off the elevator was 000 Z.

She looked back at Theo who looked really confused. 

He looked to her and made a face. "Where the hell are we going?"

She smiled a bit and shrugged. "I have no idea. I just found the B section… I must be getting close." She looked at the row of lockers in front of her, hoping she was right. She walked down some more, aware that Theo was strolling up behind her to catch up.

She frowned when she realized that she had to have the combination ready to open the locker with. She stopped walking and dug around Shane's jacket that she still had on, trying to remember where she had put the wooden box with her mother's picture.

Theo walked past her, glancing back and forth at the lockers on both walls. He sighed and looked back at her. "It's so dark down here. You'd think they would've installed better lighting systems. I can barely see the numbers on these things."

Elysia shook her head at his complaining. * _What a baby. _* She smiled some, knowing that she didn't mind.

She found the picture, just as Theo gave a cry of triumph. 

"Ah! Here it is!" He looked at Elysia and gave a little wave with his hands. "Locker number 347 A."

Elysia rolled his eyes at him and walked up. "Well, let's see what's in there." She pulled out the key and looked at the lock on the locker door. 

It was a fairly simple lock. All she had to do was turn the knob for the combination, then stick the key in to unlock it.

She looked at the picture and smiled slightly when she realized the numbers were her birthday. 

Twelve, five, twenty, and three.

December 5, AC 203.

She pulled the lock off the door and put into her pocket as she slowly opened the door.

She peered inside and looked at it's content.

There was a cardboard box taking up most of the space in the locker and what looked to be videotapes shoved in next to it.

She reached in and slowly pulled the box out. She handed it to Theo as she continued to pull out the rest of the items. "Hold that for me, please."

Theo shrugged and watched her as she pulled out the tapes and what looked to be a bigger version of the wooden box that held the key.

Elysia stacked the tapes onto the box Theo was beginning to have problems holding and looked at the wooden box somewhat excitedly.

She closed the door to the locker and replaced the lock, the turned her attention to the box. "I wonder what's in here…"

She looked at Theo as one of the tapes began to slip off. 

She caught it as it fell and raised an eyebrow at him. "Need help?"

He closed his eyes and shook his head. "Nah, I got it."

Elysia held back her laughter as two more tapes fell.

She caught them and took a couple more off of the box to lessen his load. "Sure you do."

She turned to walk back to the elevator, muttering," Men and their damn pride. Can never admit they need help."

Theo smiled, hearing her and followed her, almost dropping some more tapes.

~*~*~

Lisette gave a sigh of relief when Jacob and Caterina returned. "Finally! I can go now!" She glared at her brother. "What took you so damn long?!"

Jacob shrugged and held up a stack of papers in his hands. "I wasn't sure what I was supposed to get, so I just printed out everything." He smirked and looked to Caterina at her side. "And I kept getting distracted."

Caterina looked down as she began to blush.

Lisette rolled her eyes and grabbed the papers from her brother. She quickly skimmed over them and looked at him, a little surprised. "Where'd you find all of this?"

Jacob shrugged again. "I don't know. A click here, a click there. I didn't pay attention."

Lisette rolled her eyes at him, but said nothing.

Shane and Jade chose that moment to show up, both looking flushed.

Jennifer saw this and rolled her eyes. "God, can't any of you people keep your hormones in check?"

Lisette started laughing as Shane and Jacob fixed on her their best glares.

"We weren't doing anything," Shane said.

Jennifer raised an eyebrow. "Except each other."

Shane made a face. "No." He blinked and looked up. "I think."

Jade sighed and hit him upside the head. "You're such an idiot."

Shane smirked and wrapped an arm around her. "I know. But you still love me."

Jade rolled her eyes and pulled away from him. "Or, so you think."

Caterina looked at Jennifer, hoping to change the subject. "Where's Elysia and Theo?"

Jennifer pointed downwards. "Still there."

Caterina nodded and looked up at Jacob, studying his face. 

He was still in a bit of denial of his aunt actually having a child. And that there was a possibility of his parents being involved in a conspiracy. He obviously couldn't grasp that.

Nobody could, actually.

She looked at the doors as the lighted numbers above them began to flash on.

"Oh, good. They're coming back."

~*~*~

Elysia had put down the videotapes she was holding and looked at the wooden box. 

What did her mother put in it?

Theo watched her as she slowly opened it, still trying to hold the box and tapes that kept sliding off of each other.

He glared at the elevator doors, starting to hate the slow moving contraptions.

Elysia stared at the box's contents, a bit in awe. She looked up at Theo and smiled as she began to pull out pictures. 

The box held all the pictures she had ever remembered taking.

The snowball fight she'd had with Pargan two days before her mother died. Her third birthday party. The giant pink birthday cake she'd had. All of her presents.

She sifted through the pictures and smiled more at each one.

"I didn't realize she had taken so many of us," she said.

Theo shrugged a little. "Most parents take as many pictures as they can of their first children." He shuddered, remembering how _his_ parents did it to him. 

Bathtub pictures, "first" anything pictures, sleeping pictures, the horrid and all too common naked baby who refuses to put at least a diaper on pictures…

How he loathed those things. If his mother were still alive, he would have burned every single one of them.

He looked at Elysia as she put all the pictures she had in her hands back in the box, and then pulled out another one slowly.

She was staring at it silently, an unreadable expression on her face. 

"What's wrong?" he asked.

She looked up at Theo and held it out to him. "This was the day I was born."

Theo went to get a closer look, but accidentally knocked the picture out of her hand when a tape fell off the stack in his hands. 

Elysia kneeled down to pick it up, when she in turn dropped the box of pictures. "Shit!" She kneeled down to pick everything up.

"Here let me help you. It's my fault." Theo put down the box and tapes and knelt down to help Elysia pick up the pictures that had fallen out.

They had put everything away fairly quick. There was only one left on the floor, the one that Elysia had wanted to show Theo.

They both reached out to grab it and paused, when their hands hit each other. They looked at each other slowly and silently willed the other one to pick the picture up.

Elysia pulled her hand back slightly and cleared her throat. "You can get it, if you want."

"Um... okay." Theo moved closer to get a better grip on the picture. He picked it up and held it out to Elysia, who was just inches away from him. "Uh… here."

Elysia gingerly took the picture from him, fully aware that their lips were just mere centimeters away from each other.

That were getting shorter and shorter.

The elevator stopped, the doors opening.

Elysia and Theo jumped apart quickly as the others turned to see them.

"Finally!" Caterina walked over to them, hands on her hips. "What took you so long?"

Elysia picked up the videotapes she had dropped and slowly stood up, trying to get over what had almost happened.

She looked down and rearranged what she was holding in her hands, hoping that nobody noticed her expression. "We, um… We had trouble finding where the locker was." She stepped out of the elevator, brushing her hair away from her face, and began to head down the hallway. "It's really late. We should get going." 

Caterina frowned at Elysia's quick exit and looked to Theo, who was still on the floor of the elevator. "Why are you just sitting there? Get up, before that thing closes and we have to wait even longer for it to come back."

Theo blinked a couple times, and then looked to Caterina. "Huh?"

Caterina stared at him, unsure if she should yell at him, or ask him what was wrong. Something had just happened, but what?

She looked at Jacob, when she felt him tug at her arm.

"Don't just stand there. Let's go."

Caterina looked back at Theo, who was getting help from Jennifer to pick up the box and tapes that were still on the floor of the elevator. 

She frowned slightly and turned away. "Um… Okay."

Jennifer pulled Theo to his feet and handed him the box, trying to figure out what was wrong with him. He had a weird look on his face, something she hadn't seen before. She patted him on the back and whispered in his ear," Hey, are you all right?"

Theo stared at her blankly for a few seconds, before the question registered in his mind. He closed his eyes, then reopened them, trying to focus. "Uh, yeah… I just… " He trailed off and began walking down the hallway after the others.

Jennifer watched him silently, then followed, wondering what the heck had happened down on the lower floor.

~ ~ ~ 

A/N: Finally! This one took me a long time to figure out how to write. Hope it was worth the trouble. Well, it has come to my attention that a few of you have gone and actually read my other fic. I don't understand why, since that one's almost two years old and I sort of lost faith in it. I had intended to remove it, but being the lazy bum I am, I never got to doing it. However, it makes me feel good to know that there are some people out there who want more. Unfortunately, I won't be able to update that one for a while, because the notebook I wrote it in is currently lost somewhere in storage. But I promise to get to updating that one ASAP. Any who, R&R as usual, and I'll see you next chapter. ~_^ 


	28. Alone

An Orphan's Life

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is not mine, in case you skipped the first twenty-nine chapters and two explanation chaps and just decided to read this chapter first and missed my many other disclaimers. 

~ ~ ~ 

Elysia stared at the TV screen blankly, finishing another tape that was in the locker. 

She looked over at Theo, who was sleeping on the other end of the couch.

He had refused to be taken home, claiming he didn't want to talk to his dad and explain everything to him.

Elysia smiled slightly, knowing he had lied. 

She didn't mind, though. She liked having him around.

Especially when she was in a strange house with her cousins she had just met, one who was a tad overbearing, the other totally ignoring her, and Caterina, who was probably lurking around somewhere in the large mansion, planning some sort of evil scheme…

She sighed and took the tape out of the VCR and put it back with the other ones. 

She wasn't tired, even though it was nearly four a.m. Everything that had happened in the last day was still processing in her mind. 

The cardboard box had contained her baby clothes and blankets, some stuffed animals, and other various baby toys and accessories.

The videotapes were basically the moving version of the pictures that were in the locker. Her three birthday parties, holidays, and random days her mother had wanted to record…

She looked down at the remaining tapes she hadn't seen. There were four left for her to watch, but she didn't feel she should watch them now.

She looked around the room, trying to figure out what to do. She couldn't go to sleep, and even if she was tired, there was no place for her to lie down, since Theo was now taking up most of the couch.

She looked at him and shook her head, wondering why she had even allowed herself to like him. He was such a jerk when she first met him.

Calling her stupid all the time and avoiding all attempts at conversation.

He had changed a lot, judging from how he was treating her now.

This was one strange week.

She sighed again and stood up, leaving the room. She needed some air. A walk sounded good.

All she had to do was find her way out of the place.

That shouldn't be too hard.

~*~*~

Jacob opened the refrigerator, looking for orange juice. He'd had a busy night and orange juice was the only thing that could quench his thirst.

He looked up when he heard someone walking around. He frowned as he pulled out the carton of juice and began to drink straight from it.

Caterina was knocked out, the long day-er night, being too tiring for her.

*_ No, that's not her walking around. _*

Lisette wouldn't be up either, being that she hated wandering the mansion when nobody else was up.

That left his "cousin" and her boyfriend that she didn't call her boyfriend.

He leaned against the fridge door and waited patiently for the person to come closer.

He raised an eyebrow as Elysia looked into the kitchen nervously. "Up for a midnight snack?"

Elysia seemed taken aback for a second, then she shook her head. "Um, no… I was actually trying to find my way out of here." She motioned around with her hands.

Jacob made a face as he put the juice away and closed the fridge. "Out of the hallway?"

Elysia blinked. "No, I mean your… house."

Jacob shrugged. "There are many doors that lead outside. Especially the one called the _front _door."

Elysia frowned and stared at him. "Well, I don't know this place too well, so forgive me for getting lost."

Jacob shrugged again. "Why do you want to go outside? It's snowing."

It was Elysia's turn to shrug. She looked down slightly. " I always go for walks to clear my head."

Jacob raised an eyebrow. "In the snow?"

Elysia nodded. "Or whatever the weather chooses to be."

Jacob stared at her quietly for a few minutes, then sighed. He crossed his arms and looked down at the floor, annoyed with himself at what he was about to suggest. "How about we go for a ride in my car around the city? Then, we can both clear our minds at the same time."

Elysia looked at him blankly, not sure why he was being nice to her all of a sudden. He had been treating her as if she were a liar the whole time they were together.

Then again, this might be her only chance to bond with her cousin. It wouldn't be good to sever all ties with what little family she had.

She gave a smile and nodded. "Okay."

~*~*~

The first few minutes of the ride in Jacob's sports car were quiet and awkward.

Both weren't sure of what to say to the other.

Jacob broke the silence by asking, "So, you're last name is Yuy? 

Elysia nodded.

Jacob, who was concentrating on driving with one arm, frowned a bit. "That's strange. I never knew my Aunt Relena got married."

Elysia frowned at that and looked to him. "She didn't." She looked to the road for a second. "At least, I don't think she did."

Jacob didn't seem to notice her hesitation. "Well, I was just trying to figure out why you're a Yuy and not a Peacecraft."

Elysia gave a slight shrug. "She always told me that because my dad wasn't there to pick my first two names, then it was only fair to give me his last name."

Jacob nodded as Elysia paused to remember all the times her mother had told her that. He looked at her for a second. "Did he even know about you?"

Elysia frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well, it seems to me like he didn't. I mean, nobody else has."

Elysia frowned some more. "If I knew about him, then don't you think he would've known about me?"

Jacob shrugged as he slowed to stop at a red light. " Perhaps. But don't you find it strange that you never saw him your entire life?"

Elysia looked down as she folded her hands in her lap. "No… That thought never really occurred to me."

She frowned, not liking the sudden doubts her cousin was giving her.

They waited at the light in silence, the only ones on the road.

Jacob watched the snow as it fell lightly outside. 

It had been snowing a lot lately. He was surprised there hadn't been any major car accidents like there usually were.

He looked up as the light changed. "So, Aunt Relena never took you to him?"

Elysia shook her head as she felt the car pull forward. "No… Not that I can remember."

He nodded some more as he turned left. "I know you're upset with my father for supposedly not wanting you. But what I don't understand is why all of you're anger's directed at him. Let's just say your father _did_ know about you. Then that would mean he had just as much of an opportunity to come pick you up from that orphanage as my father did. Why is _he_ the good guy and my father the scapegoat?"

Elysia bit her lip as she tried to hold in her anger.

He was right. She knew that. But she wasn't about to let him justify his father's actions. Or the lack thereof. 

Sure, her father could've saved her from that hell. _Anybody_ could have.

But her mother had always told her what a good man he was. He didn't seem the type to abandon his child in the middle of nowhere.

What bothered her, though, was the fact that her mother had never told her about her uncle. There was a reason for that.

Maybe the reason was because she had known how Zechs would react. Maybe her mother had known he wouldn't take her. Maybe she felt that an orphanage would treat her far better that he ever would.

Elysia froze at that thought. 

Was that it?

Was that why she never met him?

She looked to Jacob, unsure if she should say the thought aloud.

She tried to get it out of her head, not wanting to think about it anymore. She was in the car to clear her mind, not fill it with more conspiracies.

She focused outside on the snow, then tried to find something else to focus on, when her mind began slipping back to her bad thoughts.

She frowned when she saw a sign that looked familiar to her. She sat up a bit and looked around at the street quickly.

The houses…She had seen them before… 

She looked at Jacob questioningly. "Hey, where are we?"

Jacob shrugged, having not paid attention to where exactly he was driving. "Some rich neighborhood, I guess. Why do you ask?"

Elysia ignored his question and gasped when she saw a street sign that was beyond familiar to her. "I _know_ this place!"

Jacob frowned and looked to her. "How?" His eyes widened when she opened the door and jumped out of the still moving car. "Hey! What the hell are you doing?!"

He stepped on the brakes and glanced back at her as she began to run down one of the streets. "Where are you going?!"

"Home," she yelled back.

Jacob stared at her as she disappeared in the snow, confused. "What the hell is she talking about?"

~*~*~

Lisette had been having trouble sleeping. Her head was just too full of anger. She couldn't force it to stop working and just rest. 

She sighed and walked out of her room, wondering if she should get something to drink.

She glanced at the old grandfather clock in the hallway as she walked by.

Five thirty-six.

It'd be a while before anybody else would wake up.

She sighed again and walked down to the den to watch a movie, forgetting that Theo and Elysia were supposed to be asleep in there.

She opened the door and frowned when she saw Theo, but not her cousin.

She walked over to him and shook him a bit. "Hey! Where's Elysia?"

Theo groaned as he slowly opened his eyes. "Why can't you people leave me alone?"

Lisette rolled her eyes and gave him another good shaking. "You're in my house, dummy. I _can't_ leave you alone." She looked around the room. "Where's my cousin?"

Theo frowned and looked around the room. "I thought she was here." He closed his eyes as he thought and gave another groan when he remembered he had fallen asleep during one of the tapes and had heard someone leave the room not too soon after.

"She's probably wandering around."

Lisette shook her head. "I would've heard her." She looked at the ceiling. "Although, this place _is _huge."

Just then, Caterina came running in. "Where's Jacob," she asked a bit too panicky.

Lisette made a face and pointed to her. "I thought he was with you."

Caterina nodded a bit, looking a bit on the worried side. "I did too. I mean, he_ was_, for some time. But he left while I was asleep." She frowned, not liking that he had left without telling anybody. "I don't like this."

Lisette stared at her blankly. "Like what? My brother probably went out for another drive and he might have taken Elysia with him. There's nothing to worry about." She looked at Theo. "Right?"

Theo was sitting up, looking a bit like Caterina. "I don't know… I thought he didn't like her. Why would he take her with him?"

Lisette sighed and threw her hands up in frustration. "God, you two are such babies!" She shook her head. "Look, if it'll make you both happy, let's go get in my car and drive around to go find them. There are not a lot of people out at this time, so there shouldn't be much trouble in doing so. Is that all right?" She looked at Caterina.

Caterina looked to Theo, who nodded.

Lisette sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Okay, then let's go."

~*~*~

Elysia stared up at the brick wall that was falling apart everywhere.

The wrought iron gates were rusted over and looked as if they'd fall any minute.

The whole place looked old and decrepit.

She tentatively walked through the gates and went up the long path that she knew lead to her home.

She hadn't really given much thought to her house, since she was placed in the orphanage. All her young mind focused on was her mother.

She never realized that she could go back home.

That just didn't seem possible.

She continued walking, going faster with each step.

Sure, her mother wouldn't be waiting at the door like she had always dreamed, but she could still have her room. The fireplace where they hung the new Christmas stocking she'd get for her birthday a few weeks before. The large staircase she had last seen her mother.

She could still have all of that.

She was now running, the suspense killing her. 

The outside gates were destroyed, but perhaps the house wasn't as bad. Maybe there'd be a few cracks and holes here or there. But that could be fixed.

Everything could be fixed.

She would finally settle things with her uncle. She would have her father, who would love her unconditionally and cry and share memories of her mother with her. And they'll be happy, living in the house she had been forcefully removed from fifteen years ago.

Maybe Theo would be with her. Maybe he was "the one". And Jennifer would come and visit, along with Shane and Jade and Caterina.

And she'll be close to her cousins and they'll hang around a lot with each other. 

She ran harder, recognizing her favorite tree right away that had always been in front of the house. 

She stopped next to it, out of breath and stared straight ahead, trying to gather her thoughts.

The tree was still standing, obviously dead.

But it was still standing.

The only thing left on the hill.

She took a deep breath and stared at the emptiness in front of her.

There was nothing left.

The house had been burned down.

Everything was gone.

No fireplace. No staircase. Nothing.

She held back the tears as she slowly sank to her knees.

She had nothing.

There was nothing left from her childhood that she could remember, except for the bear.

She tried harder to stay focused as her body began to shake, half from the cold, half from the sobs she was holding back.

There would be no warm bed welcoming her back home after a long fifteen years of being empty.

There would be no toys to keep her entertained for hours.

There would be no Pargan inviting her to play chess in his room.

There would be no more days where she would sit in front of her mother's mirror and play dress up.

The house was gone, along with everything else that had been taken away from her.

And… What if Jacob was right? What if her father didn't want to get her?

Why _didn't_ her father try to get her from the orphanage? He had to have known where she was. 

Did he not want her too? Did he hate her?

Why did he leave her like her uncle?

She curled herself into a ball as she let the tears go, realizing that she truly was alone in the world. 

She had nobody and nothing of her own to claim. 

She laid in the snow as she cried, caring and thinking about nothing else.

She had _nothing_ to think of.

She was alone.

For the rest of her life.

~*~*~

Theo grew nervous with each passing minute.

Something didn't seem right.

He looked to Caterina in the front passenger seat when she yelled," There's his car!"

Lisette pulled to a stop next to Jacob's car.

Caterina immediately jumped out and ran over to him.

She wrapped her arms around him, not noticing the expression on his face.

Theo stepped out of the car and walked over to him quickly. He frowned when he saw Jacob's face. "What's wrong? Where's Elysia?"

Caterina pulled away from Jacob and looked at him in confusion. "Yeah, and why were you just sitting there?"

Lisette got out of her car and walked over. "Is your car stalled or something?" 

Jacob looked down. "She jumped out of the car and took off down one of these streets."

Theo's eyes widened. "What?!"

Lisette stared at her brother in confusion. "She _jumped_ out of the car?"

Jacob nodded.

Caterina stared at him in shock. "And you didn't stop her?"

"How could I?I was driving. And I didn't know she was doing it until she was already out of the car."

Theo glared at him." Why didn't you go after her?"

Jacob looked down some more. "I don't know…"

Theo glared some more and turned away out of frustration. "I can't believe this!" He looked back at Jacob. "Did you see which way she went?"

Jacob pointed. "I think she went that way."

Theo took off, not even bothering to say anything else.

Caterina looked at Jacob, worried by how he was acting. He seemed distant. A complete stranger to her now. What was going on with everybody?

She looked to Lisette who was examining the street and obviously had the wheels turning in her twisted little head. Caterina wondered what it was this time that had the girl deep in thought.

Lisette walked over to Jacob quickly after she read the street sign, seeming a bit annoyed about something. "Jacob, did she happen to say anything to you when she jumped out?" she asked, hinting that he should know what she was talking about.

Jacob gave a shrug. "She said she was going home."

Lisette went and hit Jacob on the head. "Idiot! I can't believe you didn't notice this!"

Jacob glared at her, then frowned in confusion. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Lisette pointed to the street sign. "You've failed to realize that you drove to Aunt Relena's house. Or, her neighborhood" She shook her head, wishing she had been the older sibling. "You accidentally took Elysia home. _Her_ home." 

Jacob never looked up at her or said anything else.

She sighed and got back into her car, so she could catch up to Theo and help him find Elysia faster. This was going to be a long morning.

"I can't believe you, Jacob," she muttered as she started the car.

Caterina watched as Lisette sped off down the street. The girl had a hell of a mean streak in her.

She smiled a bit and looked over to Jacob who was staring at the ground.

She wrapped her arms around him, knowing something was bothering him. "What are you thinking about?"

Jacob sighed and rested his head on her shoulder. "Just trying to come to grips that I actually have a cousin."

Caterina pulled back from him and looked him in the eye, sensing he was holding in something else. "And?"

Jacob made a face and looked to the side. "And that my father has a lot of explaining to do when he gets home." 

Caterina pulled him close again and looked out to the still empty street. "What about your mom? I mean, she would have a part in this too, wouldn't she?"

Jacob shrugged and rested his head on top of hers. "I don't think she knew about Elysia either."

Caterina's eyes widened in surprise. "Why do you say that?'

Jacob sighed again and shook his head. "I just have a feeling she didn't know." He closed his eyes, not wanting to think about it anymore. 

Everything had been turned upside down. He was no longer in the mood to try to sort it all out. He just wanted to stay here and rest with the girl he loved near him. 

~ ~ ~

A/N: Sorry. Had to stop it there. I have to gather my thoughts again and figure out what to with the next chapter. I know what's going to happen, but I have a problem with transferring my thoughts into decent and sensible sentences. So, uh, sorry about any further delays in my updating. Hopefully I'll finish this thing soon, since it's finished in my head. 'Til then, R&R and go on to my third explanation chap. ~_^


	29. Oh

An Orphan's Life

Disclaimer: If I owned Gundam Wing, everything about anything would be explained and there would be no need for all of us fans to write fan fiction about what MIGHT have happened. Since the GW section on FFN is still existing and going strong, then that means I don't own Gundam Wing.

~ ~ ~ 

Lisette stopped her car in front of the wall that surrounded her aunt's house. She looked at Theo as he got out slowly.

"Theo?"

He looked back into the car to see her better. "Yeah?"

Lisette bit her lip as she tried to say what was going around in her head. "You… love my cousin, don't you?"

Theo frowned and looked at her quietly for a minute. 

Lisette nodded, her assumption right. "Can you promise me something, then?"

Theo continued frowning, wondering what the heck was wrong with Elysia's family gene pool, and nodded a bit. "Yeah, sure."

Lisette stared straight ahead and said somewhat slowly," Tell her how you feel… And when you two start going out… " She turned her gaze upon him. "Don't do anything to her that would hurt her more than she's already been hurt in her life." She gave him one of her looks that always scared Jacob. "Okay?"

Theo stared at her blankly and backed away from the car slowly. "Uh, I promise."

Lisette nodded as she leaned over to close the door. "Good. I'll be going through the back of the house to see if maybe she went there first." She smiled evilly at him. "Good-bye, Theo."

Theo stared at her as she drove off. "What the hell am I getting myself into?"

He sighed and began to wander up the long walkway, unsure of where he was supposed to go exactly.

The whole yard was covered in snow and the plants were pretty much dead.

He walked a little faster, glancing here and there, getting anxious to find her.

He paused when he saw a large dead tree in the middle of the yard.

His eyes fell to the bottom of the tree where he saw Elysia lying still in the snow.

He gasped and ran over to her, calling her name.

~*~*~

Elysia was awake, although she had her eyes closed. 

She was aware that the sun was up. And that her head hurt a lot. Her throat was burning and she felt numb all over.

She opened her eyes slowly, somewhat confused on where she was.

Then, she remembered the night before. And the early morning hours.

And where she was lying.

She shut her eyes quickly, not wanting to get up.

Someone yelled her name nearby. At least, she thought she heard someone nearby.

She lifted her head a little, and then laid it back down, when the pain increased. She groaned a bit as she felt someone pick her up.

She opened her eyes and saw Theo looking staring back at her worriedly.

She tried to sit up, but she couldn't feel her legs. She looked at Theo, feeling a bit stupid.

"Are you okay?" He felt her forehead and shook his head. "You're burning up." He gave her a look as she began to fully wake up. "What the hell were you thinking, jumping out of that car and then coming out here all by yourself?! You could've gotten hurt!"

Elysia frowned and finally sat up, starting to get a little feeling back into her numb body. She gave a cough and stared at the emptiness in front of her. "I'm okay.'

"You got yourself sick!" He took his jacket off and wrapped it around her. "Stupid girl," he muttered.

Elysia allowed herself to smile at that. It'd been a while since he called her that.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, not really knowing what to say.

She looked out to where her house once stood and took in the fact that it was truly gone, along with her mother.

Theo watched her and held her tighter when he noticed her expression grow sad at what wasn't there.

After a while, Elysia turned her gaze to the ground and said somewhat quietly," Theo… What happened to your mother?"

Theo took a deep breath and looked away slightly. "She was murdered by the same people who killed Jennifer's family."

Elysia frowned and looked at him. "How do you two know each other? I kind of never got to ask you about that."

Theo looked down and shrugged. "We grew up with each other at the circus. The night my mother was killed, her family had disappeared. She just showed up at the circus last night. That's when we found out what happened to her." 

Elysia nodded as she took that in. "Oh." She coughed some more.

Theo looked at her. "We should get you some medicine. And somewhere warmer."

Elysia shook her head. "I'm fine." She leaned back into Theo a bit and wrapped his jacket tighter around her. "Let's just stay here for a few more minutes. I don't want to leave quite yet."

Theo seemed surprised by this, but shook it off and held her closer to him.

They sat in more silence.

~*~*~ 

A while later, Lisette showed up with Jacob and Caterina, all three walking up in front of Theo and Elysia.

Lisette smiled at the two sitting comfortably under the tree, glad that she could make anybody do what she wanted them to do.

Caterina noticed the look of triumph that was on Lisette's face, and frowned, wondering what the heck it was that had her smiling like that.

She shook her head and looked to Theo and Elysia. Why they were sitting in the snow and staring at nothing, she wouldn't understand. She was just glad that they were finally together.

Elysia smiled at them, as they got closer. "Hey."

Lisette gave a little wave. "Hey to you too." She motioned to Jacob who was carrying something in his arms. "Look what Jakey found!"

Jacob narrowed his eyes at her. "Could you stop calling me that?"

Lisette ignored him and knelt down by Theo and Elysia. "I remember my dad giving your mom a bunch of rose bushes one time. I guess that was the only one that managed to live after all these years." She pointed to the load in Jacob's arms. "Odd, though, since it's the middle of winter, and there's a lot of snow."

Elysia looked at the rose bush as Jacob made a face at his sister. "Lis, they were genetically enhanced so that Aunt Relena could have roses all year. That's why dad gave her a lot." 

Lisette thought that over. "Oh," was all she said.

Jacob shook his head and looked to Elysia, ignoring the glare that Theo was giving him. "I saw it and I had to get it. I figured we could keep it at my house, until you got a place of your own. Then, we could plant it there, so you could have something from here…" 

Elysia smiled at him and looked at the bush. There were a bunch of rosebuds that hadn't bloomed yet.

She remembered all the roses around the house. There were so many. Pink, red, orange… All the colors of the rainbow. 

Her mother had loved the flower so much. 

She looked back at Jacob. "Thanks."

She coughed a bit and made a face as her head began to hurt some more.

Caterina looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "Elysia, did you get yourself sick?"

Elysia shook her head, but Theo gave the answer loudly. "Yes. Moron fell asleep here with nothing warm to cover herself with."

Elysia and Caterina looked at him quickly, surprised that he had call Elysia a name.

Lisette walked over to Theo and hit him on the head. "Hey, don't be mean to my cousin!"

Theo stared at her, beginning to realize that she was almost like Caterina. "Why do you do that?"

Lisette frowned, hands on her hips. "Do what?"

Theo stood up and looked down at her. "Boss people around!"

Lisette's eyes widened. "What?! I don't boss people around!"

"Yeah, you do, sis," Jacob said a safe distance away from her.

Lisette glared at him. "Stay out of this!"

Jacob shrugged. "You just proved my point."

Caterina and Elysia looked at each other slowly as the three began to fight. 

"Elysia?"

"Yeah?"

"We should ditch them."

Elysia glanced over at Theo, who had just gotten hit with a snowball thrown by Lisette and was saying a few swear words.

"Yeah, we should." She smiled a bit as the fight continued.

~*~*~

Trowa wandered the circus grounds, trying to clear his mind. 

Due to the sudden change in weather, the shows for the next three days had been canceled. All the performers and trainers had been doing nothing all day and they were beginning to get restless. They were used to working every day, all day.

He sighed, wondering why he had let Rene and Gabriel go off to the mall with Catherine's daughter Misha. 

That girl was wild and a tad irresponsible. She had once left her younger sister Vivian at a going away party thrown by her friends and had forgotten to get her when she left.

The circus was leaving the colony the next day, and no one had noticed that the eleven year old was missing until they were about to leave.

Catherine, along with everybody else, had assumed Vivian was busy packing her things. When Catherine had a feeling she should recheck everything, she then noticed that her youngest daughter was missing.

Needless to say, Misha was punished, but the teenager easily avoided it.

Trowa sighed again, hoping that maybe this time none of his children would return with a broken limb or something. 

Theo had had too many injuries thanks to his cousin.

Trowa looked up at the sky at the thought of his oldest son. 

Theo had been too serious for the last couple of years. The only time he lightened up was when he saw a girl. 

Which was usually not a good thing, considering all the girls he'd dated.

But Heero and Relena's daughter seemed to change him. He didn't seem to be holding back on his emotions when she was with him. He was himself around her.

Trowa hoped that this girl would be the one to fill the hole in his son that Kate's death had left in him.

He had noticed that ever since Kate died, Theo had been more mature. 

He thought his actions through all the time and as much as he tried to hide it, really cared for his younger brother and sister. He was really overprotective of them. And his cousins as well.

Even Misha.

Theo had gotten into many fights with his cousins' boyfriends. All of them had supposedly said something mean or did something bad. Trowa would've punished Theo for causing so much trouble, if it weren't for the fact that each guy had indeed done something sinister to his nieces.

So, he let Theo do whatever he wanted.

He trusted his son.

He was getting a little worried though, when Theo hadn't called to say where he was. He might be busy doing something with Elysia and Jennifer, but he still felt uneasy. 

A common side effect from being a parent, he supposed.

When his son left with Jennifer the night before, he was left to talk with Wufei.

And he did. For the first time in so many years.

Wufei had gotten Trowa's number from Duo and had called to talk with him.

And they did. 

The visit from Elysia had shaken things up a bit among the former pilots. There was something wrong about the current situation, and now they had to figure out just what that was.

Trowa and Wufei had decided to get a hold of Duo and Quatre and inform the two that they would have to meet and discuss things. 

The lost contact had taken its toll, though. They would have to go back on everything that had happened in the last fifteen years to pinpoint where exactly things had went awry.

That included the night Kate was murdered.

Trowa didn't want to talk or think about it. He still hadn't gotten over her death. She had come in and out of his life too fast. 

As much as Trowa was glad that he would get to see his old friends again, he couldn't help but feel uneasy. 

There was a reason Relena hadn't told anybody about Elysia. But what was it?

He shook his head of his thoughts, knowing that he shouldn't be thinking about that. He would know in a few days. 

All he had to do was wait.

~*~*~

Elysia woke up in a bed and darkened room. She sat up slowly and frowned, trying to remember how she got there.

She looked over to the right where a window showed her that it was now nighttime and that the light falling snow had become a blizzard.

She rubbed her eyes, wondering why she had been taking long naps lately.

She coughed and held back a groan as each cough caused her headache to increase.

She sat and stared down at the bed as she waited for the pain to subside.

When they had returned back to the mansion, Theo and Lisette had insisted that she go to bed and rest. Since she couldn't very well fight back, she did as she was told and had fallen asleep right away, as she had gotten into the bed.

She looked up and wondered where they were. It seemed quiet outside of the room.

She got up and walked over to the door, slowly opening it.

She stepped out into the hallway and wandered down to the staircase.

"Elysia!" Lisette appeared out of one of the hallways and seemed nervous.

Elysia frowned and stared at Lisette. "What?"

"Uh…" Lisette glanced around, trying to think of a good way to put what she was thinking. "You see, there's a bit of a problem."

Elysia raised her eyebrows at Lisette. "What kind of problem?"

Lisette scratched her head and smiled weakly at her. "Well, you know how I said my parents weren't going to be here for a couple more days?"

Elysia stared at Lisette blankly as her mind began to figure out what it was that had Lisette so worried. 

Lisette continued talking. "Due to the sudden snowstorm, they decided to come home… tonight." She motioned around lamely. "And they're here. Now."

Elysia stood in slight shock. Then, realization kicked in and her eyes narrowed. She could hear voices coming from the dining room nearby. She began walking over towards it, her headache going away quickly.

Lisette tried to stop her, not quite wanting another war to start. Her father had a bad heart and it wouldn't help him much to have what was probably the biggest shock of his life. "Elysia, maybe you should wait a bit, you know? Let me explain things a bit to them and… get them used to the idea of…" Lisette trailed off as Elysia pushed past her and stormed off towards the room her parents, Jacob, Theo, and Caterina were at. "Oh, god, we're all going to die."

~ ~ ~

A/N: … Heh. That was really short. Oh, well… I'm so sad. This story is almost over. Just about five more chapters to go. *Sniff* I don't want it to end. Well, R&R and I'll see you next chapter. ~_^


	30. Questions

An Orphan's Life

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is not mine. It belongs to someone in Japan.

~ ~ ~

Theo and Caterina tried to hold back their contempt as they watched Jacob talk with his parents.

Sure, his parents might have had a reason for not wanting her. Hell, it could probably be a good one.

And perhaps they should let Elysia take care of things on her own and do what she felt was right.

But maybe if Theo and Caterina could make them feel a little bit of what Elysia had felt for the last fifteen years of her life, then they'd be satisfied. 

For a while.

Zechs paused in his conversation with his son and looked at the two teens sitting nearby who had been glaring at him the whole time he was there. "Who are these two?"

Jacob smiled innocently at his father and said as quickly as he could," Uh, my girlfriend and her…cousin."

Theo made a face at the idea of him being related to Caterina and went to say something, when Elysia flung open the door to the room and stormed over to where Jacob was.

Jacob's eyes widened and he tried to push her away before his parents got a good look at her, but it was too late.

Zechs had a look of horror on his face as Noin just stared at her in shock.

Elysia looked her uncle straight in the eye and glared at him. 

It was strange, actually. Jacob looked way too much like his father and it was kind of hard for her to stay angry with him. 

But she kept her focus.

"Why?!" she demanded. She stepped towards him, mentally cheering when she noticed he had taken a step back. 

She would've continued asking him all the things that had bugged her for the last week, but had to stop when her uncle began grabbing at his chest and looking a tad on the freaked out side.

She watched as her aunt rushed to his side and gave, not her, but Jacob and Lisette, who had just walked in, the meanest look she had ever seen.

"What the hell is going on?!" She turned her attention to Zechs and tried to help him keep his balance.

Lisette looked around nervously as Jacob tried to explain it as well as he could. " Uh, last night, Elysia, " he pointed to her," came here and informed us that she was our cousin and would like to have a word or two with her uncle who apparently never wanted her."

Noin frowned and looked at her son confusedly. "Cousin? But you don't have any cousins on either side of the family. Your Aunt Relena never…" She trailed off as she realized what was happening. 

She slowly looked to Elysia, who was undeniably her dead sister-in-law's child.

"Oh, my god."

Zechs moaned a bit and whispered something to Noin. 

She nodded and led him over to a chair to sit down.

Elysia turned so that she could still look at him. She was losing some of her anger at her aunt's reaction.

Lisette moved up to her cousin and smiled reassuringly. 

Noin looked at Elysia, trying to figure out how this child could've existed without her knowing.

Jacob handed his father a glass of water and crossed his arms, annoyed that nothing had yet to be said.

Zechs gulped down the water and sat silently for a couple minutes.

Elysia watched him patiently. He could take as long as he wanted. She wasn't going anywhere until he explained himself.

Zechs rubbed his forehead and finally looked at her, straight in the eye like she had done to him earlier. "My sister never had a baby."

Elysia tried to hold in the sudden rage that came at the statement and asked as calmly as she could," Well, how the hell did I get here?"

Zechs looked at her some more and inwardly smiled at her forwardness. He shook his head and leaned against the table. "That's what I'm now asking myself."

Elysia turned on him her best death glare and stepped closer to him. "What do you mean? You knew about me! You didn't want me!"

Noin's eyes widened in surprise. She looked to Zechs quickly. "Is that true? You knew about her?! Why didn't you tell me?!"

Zechs sighed and looked at her. "How can I not want something that I didn't even know was alive?" He looked at Elysia and said," Relena never told me about you." He looked down a bit, saddened by that. "I don't know why she didn't, but you have to believe me when I say that I had no idea that you were born. I swear on my dead family's graves that I never knew about you.""

Elysia stared at him, unsure if he was lying. He didn't seem to be. But that didn't make sense.

She looked at him and tried to be slightly nicer. "How could you not tell that your own sister was pregnant?" 

Zechs looked up at that and shrugged. "That's something else I'm asking myself."

Noin looked at Elysia. "When were you born, Elysia?"

Elysia stared at her aunt, who didn't seem to be the awful woman she had imagined. She seemed fairly nice, not quite mean in any way. "December 5, AC 203."

Noin frowned and did the math in her head. She looked at Zechs and said somewhat quietly. "You were gone that month."

Zechs thought that over, and then shook his head. "That may be so, but what about the rest of the year? I saw Relena all that time."

Noin shook her head. "No. No, you didn't. You left on that mission in September. And the last time you saw Relena that year was in July. She probably wasn't showing then." She looked down as she thought some more. "But why didn't she tell us? That's not like Relena at all."

They paused, thinking everything through, trying to make connections.

Elysia looked at Theo and Caterina, who didn't seem to quite believe her aunt and uncle. Theo also seemed to be holding back on some sort of a violent urge.

Lisette looked up surprised when she heard the doorbell. "Who could that be?"

Elysia frowned at the sound of the doorbell, wondering why she didn't see it the night before. 

Lisette walked out to get the door. 

Noin looked up quickly when a thought hit her. "Wait, there were those rumors about Relena, Zechs. And remember that time she said she was sick when we went out to eat for your birthday?" She looked down as everything started making sense. "I can't believe I missed all that." She looked at Elysia questioningly. "Do you know who you're father is, too?"

Zechs snorted and looked at Noin surprised. "Can't you tell? I mean, Relena was in love with Heero for as long as I can remember."

Noin gave a shrug and gave him a look. "Well, excuse me for thinking that perhaps Relena didn't say anything because Heero might not have been the father and she didn't want him to know."

Zechs and Elysia blinked and thought that over.

Then they said together, "Nah!"

They looked at each other and frowned.

Lisette walked in followed by Shane, Jade, and Jennifer. "Look what I found on the porch!" she announced happily.

Shane gave a little wave as Jade and Jennifer surveyed the room.

Jade frowned when she noticed Zechs and Noin. "Hey, now. Are they the neglectful relatives?" she asked Elysia, pointing to them.

Elysia nodded, then shook her head. "Not neglectful, but they are my aunt and uncle."

Jade nodded and crossed her arms. "Okay." She looked at Caterina and Theo and smirked. "Well, aren't you two the poster children for happiness."

Theo turned his glare on her as Caterina stood up and walked over to Jacob, surprisingly not wanting to comment.

Zechs looked at the three who walked in behind his daughter and frowned. "Who are these people?" 

Jade stuck her hand out to him. "Jade Chang. And the bumbling idiot to my right is Shane Maxwell."

Zechs looked at her a bit curiously as she shook his hand.

Jennifer gave a little wave. "Jennifer Silverman, although my adoptive parents' name is Groff."

Zechs stared at the three quietly, then looked to Caterina and Theo. "Then that means you're Trowa's son and you're Quatre's daughter."

Theo nodded as Caterina got her smug look.

Zechs stared at them a while longer, then rubbed his forehead. "This is too much for one night."

Lisette looked at Jade, smiling a bit to cover her nervousness. "Hey, how'd you guys get here in that snowstorm?"

Jade shrugged and sat down next to Theo, pulling the unusually quiet Shane with her. "When your genes consist of a Preventer and gundam pilot, you tend to find a way to do anything."

Noin looked at her and smiled. "That's right. You're Sally's daughter. How's your mom?"

Jade shrugged again. "Same as usual. Working late, yelling at my dad, spoiling the younger kids." She frowned at the last part and looked at Elysia. "You're lucky you never got siblings. They're monsters."

Jacob laughed at that. "Tell me about it." He stopped when Lisette shot him a glare.

Shane looked to Elysia, who was trying to get a good stance on what was happening around her. "Are you okay, EL?"

Elysia stood silently for a while, and then looked to him slowly. "Yeah… I think so…" 

Theo raised an eyebrow. "She got herself sick this morning and has refused any medication we gave her. To be honest, I'm surprised she's still standing."

Elysia glared at him. "Are you saying I'm weak?"

Theo shrugged. "Well, you did faint twice this week and you're looking a bit pale right now."

Elysia glared at him, then stopped, knowing he was right. 

Noin walked up to her and felt her forehead. "Geez, you're burning up." She grabbed Elysia by the shoulders and turned her towards the hallway. "You go to straight to bed, while I make you some soup and get you some medicine."

Elysia opened her mouth to protest, but Lisette grabbed her and lead her out of the room. "You do what she says. You don't have much of a choice."

Elysia stared at her younger cousin, trying to pull away. "But I still have to talk to your dad. There are things we need to discuss."

Lisette nodded and tightened her grip. "Yes, there are many things _we _as a family have to talk about. But we have all week to do that. And you need to be functioning normally in order to do that. So hop into bed and I'll see you in the morning." She stopped at the stairs and nudged Elysia to move up. "Goodnight."

Elysia glared at her and stayed where she was. "I am not going to bed."

Lisette raised an eyebrow. "Do you want me to get Theo and the others involved in this? Because I'm pretty sure you aren't going to win." She smiled a bit. "Don't worry. We won't talk about anything important while you're gone. We'll probably just have a nice dinner with a bit of conversation."

Elysia stared at Lisette, not wanting to go upstairs, but also not wanting to deal with the others in the room. She sighed, disappointed that everything was not turning out the way she had expected it too. 

"Fine. Fine. I'll go," she muttered as she turned and walked up the stairs slowly.

Lisette smiled some more and watched her, making sure she made it to the room.

* _Poor Elysia must've had a hard week. No wonder she got sick so easily._ *

She shook her head and walked back to the dining room, beginning to form a plan in her mind to do something special for her older cousin. The others wouldn't mind helping her out on this one.

~ ~ ~

A/N: Heh. Not quite the reaction and outcome most of you expected, huh? Well, there's a reason for all of it. And I know. They all got too talkative in this. I don't even think there's anything relevant in here. But I had to have 'em explain a few things. Any who, R&R and I'll see you next chapter. ~_^


	31. Mother

An Orphan's Life

Disclaimer: I think we get the picture at this point in the story. Gundam Wing is not mine.

~ ~ ~

Elysia waited patiently by the door for her uncle.

He was taking her to visit her mother's grave.

That morning, when she had woken up, she found that the others had all went home, including Caterina, who Lisette had said was staying with Theo at the circus.

As far as Elysia knew, nothing was mentioned about the conspiracies that Lisette had come up with. 

Lisette had assured Elysia that all they talked about were the kids' parents and what had transpired since they had all last seen each other.

That was it.

Zechs later went to the room she was sleeping in and had asked her if she had wanted to go see her mother.

She hadn't really thought much about the cemetery her mother was buried in. She kind of ignored the fact that her mother was dead.

But she accepted the invitation, knowing she should probably talk to her mother first, before she went to see her father.

She looked up as Zechs came walking down the stairs, putting on a jacket. He smiled at her and she smiled back.

She couldn't stay mad at him. She knew he was just as upset about the whole situation as she was. 

The one thing that bothered her was why neither of them about each other. What was her mother doing those last three years of her life?

Zechs opened the door and waited for her to go out first. 

She went out and walked over to the car.

Zechs followed and opened the door for her. 

He still couldn't believe how much she looked like his baby sister. It hurt him to know that Relena had never told him about her pregnancy.

Although, he wasn't the only one, considering the comments from the ex-gundam pilots' children last night.

He got into the car and started it, no words spoken yet between the two.

Not that they didn't want too or were feeling awkward. They just liked the comfortable silence.

As quickly as it had come, the snowstorm had left. The roads weren't so bad to drive on as Elysia had expected.

She stared out the window, trying to memorize everything that was happening. 

As much as it was probably going to hurt, she wanted to remember as much as she could about this day. She didn't know why, but she did. 

She glanced at her uncle every now and then, wondering what was on his mind. He seemed to be thinking about something. 

He looked at her, must have sensing what she was thinking, and asked," When do you plan on meeting your father?"

Elysia frowned, confused on how he had known what she was going to do. Then she stopped when she realized that the others must've mentioned it to him the night before. She gave a shrug and looked out the window. "I was planning to go after I talked to you, but I guess I'll have to wait a while."

"How long of a while?"

Elysia looked at him, not sure of the answer.

Zechs nodded, seeming to understand her hesitation. "I think you should see him as soon as you can. It's bad enough that I didn't know about you, but it's even worse that your own father didn't know either. I think it's been long enough."

Elysia stared at him silently, then nodded. 

She sighed and looked back out the window. 

The sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. 

She wondered how much longer it would take to get to the cemetery.

~*~*~

Lisette wandered the house, trying to find something to do. Her mother had gone to talk with Lady Une about Elysia, Jacob had gone out with Caterina and her dad had taken Elysia to see Aunt Relena.

Why did her family always leave her home alone?

The talk the night before consisted of each child voicing their opinion on the current matter to her parents.

The conclusion being that there was no conclusion. Nobody could figure out what it was that caused Relena not to say anything. 

Why had she been so quiet about that? And why hadn't anybody known?

Noin had mentioned that there was a time when Relena wasn't allowed in-person interviews and meetings. Her people had made it impossible for anybody to speak to her personally. Her security was extremely tight. Nobody could get past them.

That's when Lisette began thinking. 

Why couldn't anybody know about the Vice Foreign Minister's pregnancy?

She had looked the papers over that Jacob had printed out hundreds of times.

There were many attempted assassinations upon each of the pilots and their families. Even those who worked for the Preventers. 

Her aunt's killer was never caught. Neither were the people who were responsible for the other assassination attempts.

Something was wrong with the system.

Whoever was involved with this had to be working for either her father or some other government job.

But which one? And who was it?

Lisette sighed, knowing she couldn't find the answers alone. She would have to work with the pilots and their families in order to figure this one out.

She made a face and wandered into the den to watch a movie. She needed to clear her mind for a while.

Spacing out in front of the TV ought to do it.

She flopped onto the couch and let out another sigh. 

* _Where's the remote? _*

She fumbled around on the couch with her hand, trying to find it. 

She closed her eyes in annoyance when she knocked it off the couch trying to get a better grip on it when she found it. 

She sat up and looked over the side of the couch to see where it landed.

She frowned when she saw it on top of four videotapes. She picked it up along with the tapes and looked them over.

* _Oh, yeah. These were the tapes that Aunt Relena had put in that locker. _*

She frowned some more when she saw that two of them were marked to someone named Heero.

* _Who the heck is that? _* 

She studied the tapes some more as she fought with her conscience over what she should do. 

She really shouldn't watch something that doesn't belong to her. 

But there might be something of importance of them. 

She looked around a bit, then nodded.

She stood up and put one of the tapes into the VCR.

~*~*~

Elysia looked around the large cemetery as she got out of the car. 

It was so quiet. And empty.

She looked at her uncle as he began to walk through the snow filled lot. 

He glanced back at her and raised his eyebrow. "Aren't you coming?"

She frowned slightly, then nodded. She would have to stop thinking completely if she wanted to see her mother. She was delaying time doing so.

She followed her uncle slowly as he walked down the many pathways. 

There were a lot of trees that still had their leaves. She looked at them confusedly, then figured they were probably genetically enhanced like the rose bushes.

She frowned when she saw her uncle stop by a willow tree on a hill. He kneeled down and brushed the snow off of something on the ground. He looked up at her and motioned for her to come over.

She took a deep breath and walked over slowly.

Zechs looked at her sadly and stood up. "I'll leave you two alone," he said quietly and walked away. "I'll be with my parents when you're done."

Elysia blinked at the statement. He had meant her grandparents, she knew, but this was the first time someone had ever mentioned them.

She looked away from him and turned towards her mother's grave. 

This was it. 

What she had wanted her whole life. 

To be back with her mother again.

She took another deep breath and walked over to where her mother lay.

"Mom?"

She brushed her hair back from her face and kneeled down to look at the gravestone bearing her mother's name. 

She could feel the tears coming as she read the words on the black marble.

Relena Darlian- Peacecraft. February 21, AC 180 - December 19, AC 206. Beloved Princess, sister, leader to all. 

Elysia closed her eyes as this all sunk in. 

Princess. Leader. 

Not mother.

Nothing about the child she had. 

Elysia sniffled a bit, trying to hold the tears in.

Why did her mother say nothing about her?

Elysia shook her head, not wanting to hate her mother.

Her mother was gone. She was actually gone. She was right here, under all the snow. She had been here for the last fifteen years.

"Why? "she whispered as the tears began to fall. She hated that she kept asking it over and over, but it was the only thing she could think of.

She touched the black marble as she cried harder. All the things she had wanted to say to her mother, all the times she had dreamed of the moment when she would see her mother again; they were gone for her mind.

There was nothing to say.

Her mother wouldn't answer her, no matter how many times she would beg her to.

She continued kneeling on the ground, silently crying to herself.

~*~*~

Theo watched as Rene and Gabriel gently laid the bouquet of yellow tulips onto their mother's grave. 

When Lisette had told him that her father was going to take Elysia to see her mother, he realized that he hadn't seen his own mother in a while. 

He and his father always went whenever they were in the Sank Kingdom with the circus. They only went once this time so far, though. 

He decided he would go every week to see her from now on. Especially since he was hardly in the Sank Kingdom.

He smiled slightly as he heard Rene's voice drifting over. She loved to sing to her mother whenever they came. 

And she had such a pretty voice. 

She reminded him of their mother so much. Kate would always sing to him.

He missed that.

Gabriel was sitting down and twirling one of the tulips with his fingers. He was the one who remembered the flowers. He always did. 

Yellow tulips. Their mother's favorite flower.

It was amazing to Theo that Gabriel even remembered that.

Rene continued singing, getting a little louder. 

Gabriel looked annoyed by this, but he didn't say anything. 

The two older boys never fought with their younger sister. There was no need to.  
Theo stood a few feet away from them. He sighed, not quite believing that it had been twelve years since she was killed.

It seemed so much longer. 

He wondered how Elysia was doing right now. Seeing her mother for the first time in fifteen years would most likely be an emotional strain on her. 

He hoped her uncle knew what he was doing. 

~*~*~

Elysia had finished crying long ago. Now, she was sitting there quietly, staring at her mother's grave.

She frowned when she began to get the feeling that somebody was watching her. She looked up slowly and glanced around.

Sure enough, there was someone at the bottom of the hill staring up at her. He was too far for her to see, but she knew he was looking right at her with piercing dark blue eyes. 

She looked away, growing uncomfortable, and tried to look for her uncle. 

He was walking around on the other side of the hill, not seeming to notice another person's presence nearby.

She looked back to where the man stood. 

He was gone.

She frowned some more, trying to figure out what just happened.

* _Did I just see a ghost? _*

She shook her head at her question, knowing that those eyes were as alive as alive could be. 

But who was it? And why was he just staring at her?

She stood up slowly, trying to see any sign of him in the rest of the cemetery.

The whole place was empty. 

She sighed and looked down to her where her mother was. 

She needed to go now. She had been here too long.

She blew a kiss to the stone. "Bye, mom. I love you… I promise I'll come again to see you." She bent over to touch the marble headstone again, then stood up and walked over to her uncle.

He smiled at her when he saw her coming over. "Ready to go?"

She nodded. "Yeah." She looked back to her mother's grave, deciding that she wouldn't tell anybody about the man. 

There wasn't a need to. He hadn't tried to do anything to her and she wasn't really afraid. She was just surprised that somebody else was in the cemetery.

She walked back with her uncle to the car, quickly forgetting about the man.

~*~*~

Heero stood behind one of the many statues in the cemetery, trying to get over what he had just seen.

Relena's ghost was right over her grave. She had looked right at him.

She didn't seem to recognize him. She looked completely confused on who he was.

He mentally cursed himself, knowing he shouldn't have gone today to see his lost love.

He should've waited. 

Maybe he shouldn't have gone at all. He should've let go of Relena a long time ago.

He closed his eyes, trying to get a grip on things. 

He did not see Relena. He was imagining things. 

Yes. That's it.

He took a deep breath and sighed. He better leave now, before he goes crazy. He took one last look at Relena's grave and walked away.

~ ~ ~ 

A/N: … Don't just sit there! R&R! And I'll see you next chapter. ~_^


	32. Father

An Orphan's Life

Disclaimer: For the last thirty-four chapters, I have stated that I do not own Gundam Wing. Do any of you think that has changed since I last updated? 

A/N: For some reason, everybody thought the last chapter was sad. I didn't realize I had the skill to make people cry. I've seen stories that are sadder than the last chap. At any rate, if you thought THAT was sad, then you're all going to hate me in this one… At least, I think you will. Any who, since everybody has been complaining that my chapters aren't long enough, here's an extra long one just for you. I hope you're happy. ~_^

~ ~ ~ 

Elysia and Theo sat on the front porch quietly.

They could hear the others' voices coming from inside the house. 

Her uncle's house was pretty crowded. Jacob had brought Caterina back with him, Shane and Jade arriving a few minutes later, and then Theo came with Rene and Gabriel tagging along.

Caterina and Jacob's constant displays of affection forced the two out of the house and into the blissful silence of the night outside.

Theo wrapped his arms around her as they looked up at the stars, something they were doing a lot together lately.

He rested his head upon hers and asked," What was it that Duo was talking to you and Jennifer about?"

Elysia gave a little shrug. "He offered us a job at the orphanage. He said that we would know how the orphans there would want to be treated." She gave a smile. "And we get to boss the nuns around, so of course I jumped at the offer."

Theo shook his head and held her tighter. "You always have to cause trouble, don't you?"

Elysia smiled some more, then sighed. As happy as she was at the moment, there was still one thing left that she had to do. And she was beginning to not look forward to it.

Theo looked at her confusedly and asked," What's wrong?"

She shrugged again, and looked down. "I'm not sure what to do about my father."

"What do you mean?"

She sighed again and looked up at the sky. "What if he _did _know about me? What if he didn't want me?"

Theo made a face at this and turned to look her in the face. "Elysia, why are you worrying about this now? And why should it matter? You were ready to kill your uncle when you thought the same thing about him."

Elysia shrugged again. "I don't know… It's just… different this time." She looked away from him and took a deep breath. "I guess I'm just nervous, is all. I mean, I'm right where I wanted to be a week ago. And now that I'm here… I'm trying to prolong everything. I'm kind of scared." She glanced at him, hoping she was making sense.

Theo thought this over quietly for a few minutes, then sighed as he stood up, dusting the snow off of him. "Well, there's only one thing we can do about it, then."

Elysia looked up at him and frowned. "What?"

He extended a hand out to her and lifted her to her feet. "Got to have you confront your fear." He smiled at her and leaned closer to her, kissing her gently on the lips.

Elysia stared back at him in shock as he pulled away, still smiling.

He tugged on her hand. "C'mon. Let's go see your dad."

She continued to stand in shock, then she gained control of her senses. She smiled back at him as he led the way to his car. 

~*~*~

Jennifer shook her head slowly as she saw Theo and Elysia leave quickly. She turned away from the window and took a bite of the cake she had in her hands. "Those two…" 

"What about 'em?" Caterina asked, coming up from behind.

Jennifer motioned outside. "They left in a hurry."

"Oh?" Caterina looked out, a small smile creeping up on her face. "I wonder what they're going to do?"

Jennifer made a face at her. "They're not _you_, Caterina. And I think they're going to see her dad." 

Caterina turned away from the window and frowned. "Why do you say that?"

Jennifer shrugged as she took another bite of her cake. "What, like I _can't_ hear them through an open window?"

Caterina crossed her arms and shook her head. "You are such a bad girl."

Jennifer smiled sweetly at her. "I learn from the best." She looked over to one of the hallways as Lisette came up, looking a bit distressed. "Ah, so there you are. Where have you been all day?"

Lisette put a hand to her forehead, a bit distracted. "I was busy doing… some things." She closed her eyes and shook her head, trying to keep control of her senses. "Uh, where's Elysia?"

Jennifer frowned slightly at Lisette's behavior and pointed to the window with her fork. "She left with Theo a while ago… Why?" 

Lisette's eyes widened. "What?! How long ago?!"

Caterina looked to Lisette worriedly. "Is something wrong?"

Lisette closed her eyes again and wiped her face. "No… At least, I don't think so. I just… Where did she go, exactly?" She opened her eyes and looked to Jennifer.

Jennifer started to get a little uncomfortable. "She left to see her dad… What's going on, Lisette?"

Lisette made a frustrated noise and ran to a nearby closet, pulling out a jacket quickly. "Shit!"

Jennifer and Caterina looked at each other, not sure what to do.

Lisette ran to the front door and opened it. "Tell my mom and dad that I went with her. I have to show her something, before she sees him."

She ran out, before Jennifer and Caterina could say anything else. 

~*~*~

Elysia fiddled with her hands nervously. She was getting more nervous with each passing minute. 

*_ What if he's not home? It's almost Christmas. He could be off with family somewhere... Does he even _have _a family? Do I have more aunts and uncles? … No, Uncle Zechs would've said something… Why did I agree to this? I should've waited 'til later. When I had more time to get used to everything and- _*

Her thought stopped quickly when she felt Theo's hand hold hers. She looked to him slowly.

He smiled at her reassuringly, then turned his attention back to the road.

She blushed a little and looked down, getting a bit freaked out by how he knew what she was thinking again.

Theo had said the apartments where her father lived were a good twenty minutes away from her uncle's house. 

Twenty minutes. 

She had twenty minutes to prepare what she was going to say to her father when she finally met him for the first time. 

She wondered what he looked like. Yeah, she knew about the eyes. Everybody kept telling her that.

* _Okay, we have the same eyes. What else? Hair… It must be lighter… No… _My _hair is darker than mom's hair. He _has _to have dark hair… Wait. Why am I even worrying about what he look likes? I should be worrying about how he is. He could be some jerk or something… No, wait, because mommy loved him and she told me stories about him not being … like that. No. I have to stop thinking about this. I need to focus on something else. _* She looked up at Theo and smiled slightly. * _Something else. _*

* _Would my father approve of Theo? No! Stop thinking about that! You have to figure out what you're going to tell him! If there's a chance that he really didn't know about you, you have to explain to him who you are and who you're mother was… Would he even remember mom? _* 

She sighed and looked out the window. 

She had twenty minutes.

~*~*~

Lisette drove the slick roads, trying to catch up to Theo's car without going over the speed limit. She had to show Elysia those tapes. 

That is, when she got Elysia back to her house and taken the tapes out of the hiding place in the floor. She hid the tapes, because Elysia and her father were the only ones who should see them. Nobody knew about the hole in the floor, except Lisette, so the tapes would be seen by who they were made for.

Aunt Relena had been forced to keep her pregnancy a secret. Nobody was to know about the child of a gundam pilot and the vice foreign minister. 

Chaos this knowledge would cause. So, the child had to be hidden at all costs.

And then Relena was murdered and nobody had yet to figure out why. 

Lisette had it all figured out, though. She looked down slightly, remembering what her aunt had said on one of the tapes.

__

"I was too young, and a child born out of wedlock and with the parents that Elysia has… this would cause an uproar among the people… At least, that's what they told me."

Lisette shook her head and tried to focus on driving. There were other cars on the road and it was starting to snow again.

__

" I never told Heero. I couldn't. They prevented me from doing the simplest everyday things. I wasn't even allowed to talk to my own brother. I wanted to so bad. He needed to know. These people, these men… If Zechs had known that the people who worked for him were so cruel, so… so evil_, he would have never allowed them to 'protect' me, as he had wanted. They would've been placed in a holding cell where they belonged. _*

Lisette had watched the tapes over and over, trying to memorize every detail in them. Her aunt had known something was up. She had known they were planning something.

__

" I feel that something is going to happen. I can tell. They've been acting different. They listen to me willingly and do what I say, but they do it with a sinister gleam in their eyes. As if they are trying to appease me… I pray that they do nothing my little girl. She's all I have in this world and this whole damn situation has been caused in order for her to live. If she's… if she's… If these bastards hurt her, then everything I have done since the minute I knew of her existence would have been in vain. I can't… I won't_ live with myself if anything ever happens to her… If only I could talk to Heero…" _

Lisette took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Her aunt had explained everything on those tapes. Why she was forced to stay quiet about Elysia, why Zechs was never told anything, why the other pilots were left in the dark with everything…

* _Aunt Relena was put through so much. If daddy had only known… _*

She glanced down to the clock, growing slightly annoyed that she wasn't moving fast enough. "Eight seventeen. Why am I taking so long?"

Lisette looked up just in time to see one of the other cars in front of her slip on the icy road and crash into another one next to it. She slammed on the brakes and swerved to avoid the two, but was hit from behind by another car. She closed her eyes, trying to get what was actually happening. 

* _This isn't right._ *

She's not getting in a car accident on the road. She's dreaming. This _isn't_ happening. 

She whimpered as she heard the screeching of the other cars on the road and the crunch of each one hitting each other. 

She needed to get to Elysia. She had to tell Elysia about what was on the tapes. 

She cried out as she felt her car move and the sudden rush of pain. 

No, she had to show Elysia the tapes. She had to tell her where they were. She couldn't die here. Then nobody else would know.

She opened her eyes as another car came crashing into the front of hers. She screamed as everything went black.

~*~*~

"Here we are," Theo announced as the car slowed to a stop in front of an apartment complex. He turned the car off and looked at her. "You sure you want to go by yourself?"

Elysia nodded as she tried to focus. 

She was here. In a few minutes, she would meet her father.

She unbuckled her seatbelt and leaned over to kiss Theo. "I'll be fine… Thanks."

It was Theo's turn to be shocked as she got out of the car. 

She smiled at him, saying," I'll get you when he's ready," then closed the door.

Theo watched her as she walked towards the apartments. She was brave. He smiled, loving the girl even more.

Elysia looked around, trying to find the way to her father's apartment. She looked up to the numbers on the wall by a set of stairs. 

10 A would be up there. 

She took a deep breath and began to climb the stairs slowly. She was almost there.

All she had to do was turn the corner and…

Here she was.

Apartment 10 A where her father lived. 

She took another deep breath and knocked on the door.

~*~*~

Of all the things Heero didn't expect to see on his front porch, even he hadn't expected to see her.

Upon opening the door he came face to face with young girl about his height, looking a bit nervous. However, she was familiar to him. He _knew_ her.

Long, wavy, dark blonde hair that reached her waist, dark blue eyes…

He knew those eyes. They were _his_ eyes. 

And everything began to make sense.

No words needed to be exchanged between the two. Just the fact that she was standing there in front of him was enough. 

And he did the only thing that felt right, natural, even. He reached out and pulled her close to him in a warm embrace. 

And that was all that had to be done.

~*~*~

__

It had been nearly three years, since Heero had last seen Relena. 

In person, that is. 

Anybody could see the former queen anywhere on broadcasted interviews and debates.

But Heero missed seeing her right in front of him, holding her in his arms.

He had to see her. 

And he wouldn't let the stupid security stop him this time.

He had managed to break through it once, and had had the most wonderful night of his life. But that was once_. It had been a long time since then._

He had _to see her this time. _

It was luck that had him here at another social gathering of the leaders and politicians of the galaxy. 

Had he not overheard the conversation of those two idiot preventers, who needed to be reported to Wufei or Duo for the lack in common sense, he would never have known about his one chance to see Relena.

Perhaps, he shouldn't be too angry with those fools, though. They did help him out.

He sighed and looked around the crowded estate. 

The cold December air bit into him, but he refused to go inside. He'd risk getting caught.

Those men seemed to have it out for him. They went out of their way to keep him away from Relena.

Quatre was supposed to be here too, but he could be at home with Dorothy and his daughter. Duo had told Heero about how the four-year-old was a load of trouble. Lucky for Quatre, though, he had the Maganacs to help with the raising of the little girl. 

So, Duo had said.

Heero glanced around, wondering if Relena was somewhere inside the large mansion. He really didn't want to go in there and search the whole damn place for her. There was even the chance that the security would keep her away from certain people, like they always did.

He had once heard how Zechs was barred from seeing Relena for five months straight.

These men weren't fooling around. 

Heero narrowed his eyes at the thought. He would have to find out later on what they were planning. They had to be planning something if they were so concerned about whom Relena was with.

He looked to the balcony, where various people were wandering up and down the stairs, chattering happily to each other.

Where was she?

His eyes wandered up to the top where a few people were leaning over the stone railing, looking out at the stars and what lay below them. 

And there she was.

His breath drew in quickly at the sight of his angel.

God, she was so beautiful.

She had on the blue dress he had bought her. He couldn't believe that she still had it. That had been nearly five years ago. 

She was leaning on the railing, looking so sad. 

He watched as her gaze wandered down to the people below. Slowly, she looked to where he stood.

Their eyes met.

He smiled as he saw her face brighten at the sight of him. She looked around quickly, then took off towards the stairs, her eyes never leaving his.

He held his arms out to her as she rushed over. They kissed as she pulled into his arms.

"Heero…"

She buried her face into his shoulder as he got to hold her like he had wanted to for so long.

They stood silently for a while as they enjoyed each other's presence.

Heero looked at her in confusion when he heard her sniffling. "What's wrong?"

She shook her head as she held him tighter. "I should've told you. Right from the beginning."

Heero frowned and pulled back to look at her. "Told me what?" He ignored the sudden feeling of uneasiness as she continued to cry. " What's going on, Relena?"

She looked up at him and wiped her eyes. "Heero…" She looked around nervously and leaned in closer to whisper in his ear. "They'll kill me if I say anything."

Heero frowned some more at this, not liking that people were threatening Relena. 

How could he have missed something like this?

"Relena, tell me." He couldn't help, but grow angry. How could she be allowing such threats to go on and not say something? " I cannot allow somebody to be doing this to you. What the hell is going on?"

Relena looked up at him quickly at the sudden change of his mood. She looked down slightly, feeling guilt wash over her. 

She closed her eyes for a second and then looked back at him. "Heero… When you came to me three years ago… This whole situation happened to protect her… I wanted to protect her." She looked away as the tears came to her eyes again.

Heero stared at her in confusion, trying to make sense of what she was trying to tell him. "Trying to protect who, Relena?"

Relena looked at him as the tears began to fall. "Heero, I was trying to protect our-"

But she didn't finish her sentence.

A loud gunshot was heard. 

Heero wanted to kill himself for letting his guard down. He looked past Relena to see a man in black slowly putting down is gun. He smiled at Heero and fired again, then calmly walked away as the entire party erupted in screams of terror.

He heard Relena cry out and her body shake in his arms as the bullet went through her and into him. 

He tried to stand and keep Relena up, but she was slowly sinking to the ground.

He fell to his knees as she fell back on the now red snow. She was gasping for air, but he already knew what was going to happen next.

He leaned closer to her, ignoring he pain in his side and tried to calm her down, not really knwing what to say. "Relena…"

She looked at him with the tears still in her eyes, and tried to tell him. "Heero… "

He shook his head, angry at the cruel twist of fate, angry with himself for not paying attention. "Relena…. "

And she tried to tell as much as she could. "She needs you now…. She needs you, Heero…." She closed her eyes for a second as the pain increased.

Heero stared at her in confusion, forcing his mind to piece what she was telling him together. "Who?"

She opened her eyes and looked to him determinedly. "Elysia… " And the pain forced her to close them again. 

Heero frowned, not knowing what to make of this and leaned closer to her, aware that people were surrounding them now. "Relena-"

She opened her eyes one last time and whispered to him, "I love you, Heero." And she let out her last breath and closed her eyes.

Heero held her as he whispered back, "I love you, Relena."

And that was all that he remembered, his body succumbing to the pain of the gunshot wound and heartache.

~ ~ ~

A/N: Well, there you go. One nice long chapter… Well, long considering the other ones in this story. Now, go R&R and I'll see you next chap. ~_^


	33. End

_An Orphan's Life_

Disclaimer: It's been almost a year… I still don't own Gundam Wing and anything related to it… Blah, Blah, blah…

**A/N: **As previously stated it has been a VERY long time since I last updated. My fault, for being such a girl and not wanting to end this story. I had to keep reminding myself that there's going to be a sequel and quit procrastinating. So, now that my computer is uncrashed, I now can finish this story. So, many apologies for keeping all you nice people waiting… And now, the final chapter….

Christmas Eve.

A night that was supposed to be joyous, full of excitement and anticipation for the following day. A day that was supposed to be happy.

Instead, Elysia sat in silence, alone in a cold, dark hospital room, except, of course, for her young cousin lying in a coma across from her.

At this moment, her father was at her uncle's mansion along with the four ex-pilots and their families. This was the night designated for the meeting that everybody knew and wanted so desperately to have.

She would've been there as well, if it weren't for Lisette. She didn't feel right to leave her alone, especially tonight of all nights. As lonely as it was not having another person to talk back, to hear another's voice, she didn't want to leave her cousin's side.

She felt that what happened to Lisette was somehow her fault.

Sure, the car accident, one of the deadliest in the Sank Kingdom's history, wasn't her doing. However, she knew Lisette had been speeding to get to her as quickly as she could. Jennifer and Caterina had said Lisette come out of her room looking upset and had gotten more distressed when she'd heard Elysia and Theo had left to see her father.

There was something Lisette knew and wanted to tell her… Something important. But what?

She sighed, knowing the answer wouldn't come so easily… or _soon_.

A shuffling noise brought her attention to the doorway.

Theo gave a smile and walked in, two foam cups in his hands. "Your father said you were here… I thought you might want some company." He moved towards her and handed her one of the cups, then sat next to her. "And some hot chocolate."

Elysia smiled slightly at him as she lifted the lid to the cup, taking a cautious sip of the hot liquid. "Thank you... But I thought you wanted to be there when…" She trailed off when he gave her a look.

"Right now, _you're_ more important to me. I don't know why your father allowed you to be here alone without some form of protection." He took a sip of his hot chocolate, then sighed. "I also didn't like the idea of you spending Christmas Eve alone. Nobody should be alone tonight."

Elysia sighed as well and motioned at Lisette. "That's why I'm here."

Theo grew silent, unsure of what to say to that. Lisette's current state had everybody at a loss for words. He couldn't think of a time since the accident where Jacob said more than three words.

The Peacecraft family was on edge. Almost everybody was. This wasn't an easy time for them and he knew it wasn't going to get better any time soon. From the looks of Lisette, she'd be trapped in this limbo forever.

He reached around Elysia and pulled her close to him, her head resting on his shoulder, the only comfort he could give her right now. He kissed the top of her head, then looked back in front, where their gazes both rested on Lisette.

Theo squeezed Elysia's hand, his eyes locked on the young girl in front of him. "We're here together."

Heero took a deep breath and let it out slowly. The cold December air bit into him as he leaned against the balcony, looking up into the sky at the countless stars shining brightly. He didn't want a jacket. That is, go inside and _get_ one. He needed some time alone to clear his head.

The meeting didn't go too well. Not as well as everybody had hoped. There was still so much that needed to be explained, discovered. And nobody knew how to get that information.

_Why didn't Relena say anything when she could? Why did she keep everything to herself?_

Heero took another deep breath, trying to control himself.

There was so little he could do to change what had happened, to bring back the dead and get the answers that he needed.

The night had been long. What had transpired was a discussion between everybody to draw up a timeline of the past nineteen years. Everybody had something to say, their own years of perspective to add. It didn't help that the key figure that triggered all this wasn't present. Though it wasn't her fault, since nobody was sure what tonight's meeting would be like.

But now Heero had more of an idea of what had progressed since that one night with Relena. It was all slowly making sense.

He didn't look up when he heard the sliding glass door open and Trowa's slow steady steps come towards him. Trowa let out a sigh as he stopped by Heero and leaned on the balcony. The two stood in a companionable silence, staring up at the sky.

After a while, Trowa finally broke the silence. "Twelve years... Twelve long years, since Kate was taken away from me... I raised the boys and Rene on my own as best I could... I focused more on my children and less on work and... all other things that became... _trivial_ after her death... I was protective of them... because I couldn't protect _her_ that night... And at the end of each day... when I'm going to sleep after a day's work... I'm content. Even though I had lost Kate, I still had my children... And though the pain's still there each night, I have them to fill in that void." He paused and looked to Heero. "I can't imagine how you're feeling right now, losing Relena, and then never knowing about Elysia until fifteen years later. And then learning how hard _her_ life had been."

Heero nodded slightly. "She could've had so much more and better if I had had her... If I had only known..." He looked down sadly.

"If only we had all known." Trowa looked back inside to see the others carrying on with the holiday as best they could.

Jennifer was playing with Rene happily as Gabriel talked to Duo's daughter, Mira, and Wufei's youngest daughter, Crystal. Jade sat nearby, laughing at Shane getting beaten by both his parents, and Sally and Wufei.

The announcement during dinner of Jade's just discovered pregnancy set both set of parents in a state of hysteria and Wufei exiting quickly in search of his katana to "undo this injustice", Duo not far behind.

Zechs and Noin were having a discussion with Quatre and Dorothy about a new business venture.

Looking at the group, it had seemed like a typical Christmas Eve.

Caterina and Jacob shattered the image by sitting far away from everybody as possible, both in a solemn silence. It'd been hard for both of them them most. Jacob worried about his sister and had the added on stress of a cousin and an almost uncle from an aunt who had long been dead. Caterina was just plain worried about _him_.

Trowa looked away and back at the sky. It was going to take a lot of healing from this. So much that still needed to be done. This wasn't going to be solved for months, possibly years.

But now the pilots were a group again. A much larger family than before.

At least they all had each other now. Which would help the mystery solving so much more.

Trowa glanced down at his watch and saw the time was after midnight... He looked to Heero and gave a slight smile. "Merry Christmas, Heero."

Heero smiled back and nodded. "Merry Christmas, Trowa."

The two fell into another silence and looked up at the sky, both saying the same thing to their lost loves and remembering a time when they'd been the most happiest.

_Relena sighed, as she ran a comb through her hair. Tonight was the night, she was sure of it. The men had been too nice for too long. Something was definitely going to happen._

_What they didn't know, though, was that she had a plan of her own. In fact, most of it was already underway. The jewelry box had been hidden in Elysia's jacket, the tapes in Zechs' top secret base. Any proof of her illegitimate child was safely hidden away for the future, in case something happened where Elysia wouldn't have her mother and would need to prove her lineage. She hoped in her heart that it wouldn't come to that. _

_She glanced at her reflection, checking to see if the tiny microphones she'd taken from Heero that one night, that one beautiful night, showed from the places she'd hidden them. She was going to bring those bastards down once and for all. _

_All the talks of killing world leaders, destroying corporations, and the likes, in _her _name would end once and for all. She wouldn't take their crap any longer. She wasn't going to hide in fear._

_Her daughter was going to live, whether they liked it or not. She'd already lost so many others in her family before. _

_But Elysia was strong. She'd make it through life. She'd already fought death, when the doctors had tried to poison her as a baby._

_She was Heero's daughter, after all._

_Relena double checked her outfit one more time, making sure nothing was visible. While she was sure her plan was foolproof, she didn't want to take any chances. Blowing everything due to a something small would not only be stupid, but the end of her life._

_She made a face when they started knocking on her door, telling her she'd better hurry up. Like she'd hurry for _them.

_She grabbed her jacket and walked out as slow as possible. That'll show those jerks who's boss._

_As she descended down the stairs, she suddenly felt small arms wrap around her legs. She looked down to see her little girl._

"_Don't go, mommy!"_

_Relena smiled down, wondering if Elysia sensed the danger too. "I'm sorry baby, but I have to go." She leaned down to her daughter's level and looked her in the eye. "You'll be okay, I promise."_

_Elysia looked at her skeptically, then hugged Relena as tightly as she could. "I want to go!"_

_Relena fought back a feeling of regret and picked up Elysia. "Baby, you know I would let you go, but..."_

_She stopped when she heard their footsteps behind her._

"_We are leaving now, Ms. Darlian. Put the child down. You know-"_

"_And?" Relena interrupted angrily. " I can't say goodnight to my own _daughter_?"_

_One of them glared at her. "Hurry along! You have engagements to attend to and-"_

_Relena grew more angry at the way he spoke to her. " _I'll_ decide when I leave, not you. Wait in the car for me."_

_The two men made faces, then turned to walk away. But not before Relena heard one of them mutter," I'll wait, only because I know you'll be dead at the end of the night."'_

_She held back the sudden feeling of fear that rose up in her chest and brought her attention back to her pride and joy. _

_Elysia seemed to sense the hostility and hugged her mother again. "Don't leave! I want you to stay!"_

_Relena smiled and kissed Elysia's cheek, fighting back the feeling that this would be the last time she'd be in her arms like this. She sighed and gently set Elysia down. "Baby, you have Pagan to watch you. He always watches you. You have nothing to worry about."_

_Elysia wrinkled her nose, making a face that made her look so much like her father. "But Pagan's boring and old!"_

_Relena laughed a little and hugged her daughter. "Be that as it may, you have no other choice." She kissed Elysia on the forehead. "But I'd rather it be Pagan here with you, than some other old man. Now, then," she set her down, a bit reluctantly," I must be going. Be a good girl." Relena kneeled down and kissed her again. "Remember, Elysia... Mommy loves you.. And always will.... I'll see you later. Okay?"_

_Relena held back a smile as Elysia made a face, pouting. "No."_

"_Well, that's too bad." Relena picked Elysia up and gave her one last hug. "I love you. Goodnight, my angel."_

_She set down her daughter and looked to Pagan who had just come down the stairs. She hoped nothing would happen to either of them when she left. "Goodnight, Pagan."_

"_Goodnight, Ms. Relena."_

_She walked to the front door and opened it slowly, knowing that her next moves would set the path of what would happen the rest of the night. She paused and took one last look at her daughter, and then walked off into the cold night to the car, where the men waited for her. Hopefully, her plan would go well. _

_ The End_

**A/N: **Yeah, I know... Shouldn't have ended like that. But I've been going in circles here and we all have a general idea of what happens next. Not only that, but there IS the sequel.. So, I don't want to rush it too much. Anywho, sorry for the LONG delay. A nice early Christmas gift to all you nice reviewers and faithful readers of this crappy fic... :P Well, that's it for now. As always, R&R and I'll see you in the sequel ( which WILL be up soon... I PROMISE. ) Bye for now!


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